Mind-Body Health and Healing. Andrew Goliszek
we invariably develop a sudden drop in our resistance level. No one experiences exactly the same resistance and tolerance to stress, but at some point everyone’s immunity collapses and is followed by prolonged stress reactions. Life sustaining mechanisms slow down and sputter, organ systems begin to break down, and stress-fighting reserves finally succumb to what Selye called “diseases of adaptation.”
While I was a PhD student at Utah State University, my research showed a significant correlation between the emotional stress of oral exams and increased cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels. Since then other researchers have corroborated my results, showing that total cholesterol and triglycerides can fluctuate by as much as 20 percent during stress and that the bigger the perceived stress the greater the fluctuation in blood lipid levels. LDL, the so-called “bad cholesterol,” is especially affected by stress.
The General Adaptation Syndrome is thought to be the main reason why stress is such a prevelant source of health problems. By changing the way our body normally functions, stress disrupts the natural balance—homeostasis—crucial for well-being. It can also subtract years from our lives by speeding up the aging process.
Resistance is the name of the game when it comes to disease. Stress is one of the most significant factors in lowering resistance and triggering the various mechanisms involved in the disease process. By learning the relaxation and stress management techniques found in later chapters, you’ll improve your overall health as well as your odds of living a more disease-free life.
Our ancient ancestors evolved what we know as the stress response as a survival mechanism to cope with events in their environment. Similar threats rarely exist in our modern world, thankfully. However, we still respond with the same fight-or-flight stress response—to situations we perceive as threatening but may or may not actually be—that, over a lifetime, create an internal environment primed for adverse stress reactions. The longer we allow those events to dominate our thoughts and reactions, the greater the chance they will eventually cause illness and disease.
These conditioned responses increase in strength because they become ingrained into our subconscious and are then triggered by mental or environmental cues. How we perceive events, and the ways in which we react to occurrences in our daily lives, will determine how our brain is conditioned and whether or not we create patterns that contribute more to health or to disease.
One of the more remarkable characteristics of the human brain is how easily it’s conditioned. We’ve all heard about Pavlov’s famous dog experiment. Every time Pavlov fed his dog, he would ring a bell. The dog began to associate the sound of the bell with being fed, and eventually, whenever Pavlov rang the bell, the dog would immediately begin salivating. The sound of the bell conditioned the dog’s brain to trigger the physiological response of salivating. Humans are no different in that we are just as easily conditioned to sounds, sights, smells, thoughts, and events.
Since the immune system is wired to the brain by a network of blood vessels, and the brain is the major organ of conditioning, immunity and the strength of the immune response depend on two things: (1) how we perceive stimuli and (2) what we do in order to condition ourselves to boost rather than to inhibit immune reactions. Negative perceptions evoke negative reactions, which depress the immune system. The more we evoke negative reactions, the greater the conditioning is and the more such reactions become a spontaneous response (see Figure 2.4).
Figure 2.4: Stress-Induced Conditioning and Habit-Formation
The good news is that we can use fairly simple techniques to create, condition, and reinforce positive responses that help maintain a healthy immune system. There’s a lesson to be learned from all this mounting evidence. By strengthening and conditioning the mind part of the mind-body connection in the face of potentially terminal illness, it may be possible to extend life or even recover completely. And by using alternative mind-body techniques in addition to traditional medicine, we’ll be doing everything we can to help our body spring into action and do what it needs to do.
Can the Mind Slow Cancer Growth?
Cancer is defined as a group of more than 100 diseases in which abnormal cells divide uncontrollably and then invade other tissues. The term cancer is used to describe not a single disease, but many diseases in which cancer cells begin to grow and then spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymphatic system. One of the main characteristics of cancer cells is that they’re immortal, at least compared to normal cells. The genetic material (DNA) of a cell becomes damaged or changed as a result of chemicals, X-rays, UV rays, or other factors and produces mutations that affect normal cell growth. When this happens, cells don’t die when they should and new cells form when the body doesn’t need them. The extra cells form a mass of tissue called a tumor.
Treatments for various cancers include chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, or newer procedures like gene therapy and angiogenesis inhibitors. During the past few decades, studies have found that the effectiveness of any of these therapies is enhanced when patients include stress management and other techniques like visualization as part of their overall recovery routine. This is because hormones released during stress reactions not only help cancer cells travel through the bloodstream and spread to other tissues but they help keep those cancerous cells alive and growing by supplying them with vital nutrients. Adding stress management to the mix of cancer treatments may help stimulate the immune system and significantly improve the healing process.
With some exceptions, like breast and colon cancer, few cancers are inherited. Some are the result of defective genes or the environment. The majority, however, are the result of toxins, additives, diets high in saturated fat, industrial and household chemicals, radiation exposure, alcohol, and tobacco. Unfortunately, since the EPA does not test for combinations of chemicals, we really don’t know what the effect of exposure to two or more chemicals is on cancer risk compared to single chemical exposure. Research done over the last decade has shown that many people might avoid cancer or would cut their risk significantly if they adhered to seven rules:
1. Don’t use tobacco products, including chewing tobacco.
2. Limit sun exposure, especially if you’re light-skinned.
3. Avoid food additives and environmental chemicals.
4. Maintain a low-saturated-fat, high-fiber diet.
5. Limit alcohol consumption.
6. Limit sugar intake.
7. Watch your weight.
The one significant risk factor left off the researchers’ list is how a person views life events and responds to stress. Human experiments have shown that stress affects key pathogenic processes in cancer such as antiviral defenses, DNA repair, and cellular aging. Conversely, study after study has proven that individuals able to cope with stress are less likely to get cancer. And results from clinical trials have shown that patients who use a variety of stress management techniques and mind-body medicine are much more likely to recover from cancer. Meditation and visualization exercises, for example, improve the general quality of life and can actually enhance the effects of conventional treatment. When chemotherapy or radiation damages white blood cells, along with the cancer cells, the immune system is weakened, which can lead to infection and other diseases. This added stress only fuels the problem and makes stress management and reinforcement of positive thinking even more important.
Beating cancer is never easy. Avoiding the seven risk factors that trigger most cancers is however. Simply following rules number one and five is a way to minimize risk for some of the worst types of cancer such as lung, esophageal, throat, liver, pancreatic, and upper digestive