Our Mind: Powerful Force That Influences Our Body, Life And Behavior

– The idea that the mind and the body are united is not born in modern times. Already in ancient times attention was paid to the existence of the relationship between the body and the mind.

However, for the first time now, we begin to understand this important relationship and science is able to confirm what the Chinese and the Indians already believed 5,000 years ago.

Is it possible that our thoughts are able to make us healthy or sick? For many of us it is difficult to understand and accept this possibility. And yet, it may be true.

Many researchers are more and more convinced that we have unbelievable forces in us. One of these powerful forces that influence our body, our life and our behavior is – our mind!

There are studies that confirm the great power of our minds.

Ellen Idler from Departments of Sociology and Epidemiology, Emory University, studied the psychological and physical benefits of spiritual and religious practices and their impact on both – our health and life expectancy.

Her conclusions from these studies are very interesting; people – with comparable health but evaluating it worse than it really was – lived shorter than those who evaluated it realistically or even too optimistic!

You can read about Idler’s conclusions regarding the positive benefits that religious and spiritual practices can have on one’s health and well-being, in her article “The Psychological and Physical Benefits of Spiritual/Religious Practices”.

There is a popular saying that “stress kills” and that’s true. Stress, depression and other mental states can alter cells and organ functions because in fact, our body responses to physical, mental and emotional stress.

An example of how stress can affect us is research by Professor Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, the Director of the Ohio State Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research and Ronald Glaser. Their research reveals that the number of immune cells in the body of students before the exam is lower than a few weeks after it – when the body is no longer working stress test.

Even more influential on our imagination are research on the placebo effect. In postoperative pain studies, 33% of the placebo-treated patients reported similar effects to the second morphine group.

Could it be the true secret of homeopathic medicine?

Finally, one more example of an important and very interesting study, conducted by Lene Vase from Aarhus University in Denmark.

She divided the patients into two groups. One of them received an analgesic against pain, but they did not know when the drug was released. The second group received the medicine directly from the doctor, who talked with the patients at that time. It turned out that the patients in the second group described the pain experienced as weaker, which would suggest the words of the physician played an important role because they had more impact on patients than drugs.

Our mind strongly influences our actions and affects our body.

People who possess good emotional health are in control of their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. They can much easier cope with the stress, sadness and anxiety that can endanger their lives.