The Connection Between Mind And Health

Experts have been deciding for decades whether illnesses are in some way related to emotions and feelings. Now, however, they are focused on exploring the connection between mind and health.

We know that pain depends to some extent on how we perceive it and what our state of mind is. Although experts know the biological origin of some diseases, they are still not always able to explain many aspects of them. This is why many professionals suggest a possible psychological origin.

However, when entering this field, it is less clear what mechanisms and moods may affect health. This is because we need to consider a wider range of social, cognitive, physiological, and behavioral factors. These mechanisms can also have either a direct or indirect effect on the disease.

The connection between mind and health

Emotions can affect the way your body works. There is ample evidence of how negative emotions affect the duration of infections, vulnerabilities, and healing processes.

This may be because a positive mood promotes the secretion of a secretory immunoglobulin A antibody. This substance can protect people from the flu, for example.

Thus, your mind can either improve or worsen the immune system’s response to a disease or condition. Experts have found that people with a negative mood or vision are more prone to the flu and have a lower resistance to serious illnesses.

Subjective state of health

Emotions not only directly determine physiological factors, but can also condition thoughts. In other words, a negative mood makes it easier to get more negative thoughts. Thus, physical symptoms can be identified and interpreted as a potential health problem.

In this sense, experts have found that when the people who participated in the study were sad, they said they experienced more symptoms. This is because people with more negative emotions tend to be more vigilant about body sensations. Even the slightest feeling of pain or a new sensation makes them worry more about positive people.

Applying for medical treatment

In relation to the things we mentioned above, one might think that people who are more concerned about their body and health would be more inclined to go to the doctor earlier. However, studies show that the opposite is actually the case.

It seems that people with malaise feel more incapable of taking care of their health and, as a result, go to the doctor less often. As if they believed they couldn’t do anything to improve things.

In addition to this, they may consider the mood to be the cause of the symptoms and delay seeking help from an expert. Instead, when a person feels generally good, he or she is more motivated to stay healthy and take care of himself or herself.

It also seems that mood and seeking medical treatment are related to the ability to cope with possible negative news. Such people feel like a threat to go to the doctor because they can potentially get bad news.

Healthy behavior

In addition to directly affecting the body and the way the disease is detected,  it also affects behavior and actions. 

When you’re in a bad mood, you’re more likely to eat more unhealthily, enjoy more alcohol, exercise less, and so on. When it comes to smoking, most smokers say they use smoking as a way to regulate or improve mood as well as reduce stress levels.

In general, these behaviors tend to act as regulators in some way controlling the effect of mood on health. We do so to make us feel better or to reduce negative emotions. Such behaviors are therefore directly related to health.

Therefore, if you behave more unhealthily due to a negative mood, it will affect your health in the short and long term.

Mind and Health: What Should You Do?

Now you know that experiencing negative emotions is inevitable. Therefore,  you need to make sure that you adopt healthy habits in your life.

These habits, even if sometimes obscured by mood, help to smooth out some of the harmful effects. Even if your mood changes, worries become more tolerable and their effects less severe if you have a wide range of coping methods.