Neuroplasticity and the mind body connection

💙 This is a super interesting topic - neuroplasticity, and how you can literally rewire your brain through your thoughts and actions

💙In lifestyle medicine it's a huge part of the journey to wellness - you can have a perfect diet and exercise regime, but if you fail to address the effect of the mind on health, you will miss a big part of the picture

💙There is a bi-directional link between mind and body - your brain influences your physical actions, and your movements affect your brain 💙The harvard power pose study showed that altering a pose to a 'confident' one actually reduced stress hormones and improved 'confidence' hormones in just minutes. 💙Neuroplasticity studies show that if you move a muscle consistently in a certain way, it builds 'memory' in the brain, making it more effective over time 💙These changes are actually visible on MRI scanning - you can literally rewire your brain! 💙Ie standing confidently, smiling, holding an upright relaxed posture, all alters brain pathways, meaning it gets easier to do them with repetition 💙Visualisation of movements has a similar effect, in another study people who visualised playing piano daily had the same brain changes as those who actually practiced. Similarly stroke patients who visualised movement improved faster!! 💙Studies in people with irritable bowel syndrome have found that gut directed hypnosis works as well as dietary changes 💙Guided imagery has also been shown to work in pain, cancer treatment, depression /anxiety, and sports performance 💙Each time you visualise a positive action, you strengthen this neural pathway, and weaken the negative ones - over time this is like a muscle growing stronger and more effective 💙Guided muscle relaxation has a similar effect for stress /tension 💙Mindfulness, yoga, etc work on the same principle 💙Regular mindfulness actually increases your prefrontal cortex (the part of your brain that affects decisions, creativity etc) 💙The science is there - all you have to do is try it 😊 https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/taraswart/2018/03/27/the-4-underlying-principles-to-changing-your-brain/amp/

https://www.pathways.health/visualization-guided-imagery-for-pain-relief/

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=37781

https://www.google.com/amp/s/lens.monash.edu/@medicine-health/2019/06/24/1351605/how-hypnotherapy-is-helping-people-suffering-from-irritable-bowel-syndrome-ibs%3famp=121wReply http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580438,00.html