Scientists Explain Connection Between mental and Physical Health
Quick question – how do you feel in general? And why do you feel that way? In a new study published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, scientists have discovered the system in the brain where those basic feelings originate. Their findings can help solve mysteries regarding the tight connection between mental and physical health, including the neurological drivers behind the opioid crisis.
"This paper really breaks down the barrier between mind and body," said lead author Lisa Feldman Barrett. "It shows that the two are not separate, that the system that is important for creating and representing feelings is also important for thinking and remembering, paying attention and decision-making, and so much more. Feelings, in other words, are part of any mental event—any action, any thought, judgment, perception, or decision. They are properties of consciousness."
Brain’s unified networks
According to the researchers, the brain system has two unified networks, each of which loops through various brain regions. They work together to keep the body’s systems, such as the immune, cardiovascular and metabolic systems, in equilibrium as you respond to both internal and external "stressors," like hunger, and many other day-to-day activities. At the same time, these networks create the sensations inside the body—the general feeling states that thrum below the surface – a phenomenon called "interoception."
“The two networks that make up the system are at the core of the brain. Among the wide array of psychological functions they support are social and physical fear, social affiliation, empathy, moral judgments, memory, attention, and decision-making. The networks also contain the brain cells that integrate senses external to the body, including sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.” Barrett explained.
The study of these unified networks may shed some light on the opiate crisis. "People are taking opiates to regulate the distressful feelings that come from a dysregulation of the body," "Pain is an emotional experience—it is unpleasant feelings associated with actual or potential damage to the body. People may start taking opiates for physical pain, but these drugs work best not at diminishing the electrical signals of tissue damage—called nociception—but at reducing distress, at dampening the unpleasant feelings that accompany nociception. We live in this soup of low-grade stress that is very bad for our bodies. Opiate drugs turn down the dial on this consistent crummy feeling. Our findings could spur research into trying to better address the opiate and other health crises." Dr Barrett said.
Source of this article:
Ian R. Kleckner et al. Evidence for a large-scale brain system supporting allostasis and interoception in humans, Nature Human Behaviour
@Copyright 2023 by www.NaturalTherapyForAll.com All Rights Reserved
Featured Practitioner: Karen Botevyle - Counselling in Farnborough, Hampshire and Frimley, Surrey
Other Practitioners: Counselling in Farnborough