Mind-Body Medicine: What it Means for Seniors & Their Health

Welcome to my new column on mind-body medicine! It’s my pleasure to bring you information about the many fascinating ways your mind, body and spirit interact to make you happier, healthier and more resilient as you age. But first, let me introduce the subject of mind-body medicine (MBM).

What exactly is mind-body medicine? According to the National Institutes of Health, mind-body medicine is a subspecialty of the larger field of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This field includes a variety of techniques and principles, including acupuncture, herbalism, chiropractic therapy, nutrition and yoga, which historically have not been taught in traditional medical schools—although that is rapidly changing! In fact, the term “complementary and alternative medicine” is quickly falling out of favor because many of these practices are no longer an “alternative” to mainstream medical care, but are being integrated into what regular physicians do every day. Nowadays, the best description of this type of medicine is integrative medicine (IM), a philosophy and practice that combines the best of surgery, pharmaceuticals, nutrition, mind-body medicine, and other complementary therapies to give each patient the best possible chance to obtain optimal health.

You Are in Control of Your Own Health

One of the basic principles of integrative medicine and mind-body medicine is that each of us is ultimately responsible for our own health. Integrative medicine is a shift away from the model of medicine in which the doctor tells you what to do and you do it. Integrative medicine is a collaborative practice that empowers you, the patient, to have greater control over your own health.

Mind-body medicine is the component of integrative medicine that examines how your thoughts, emotions, personality and behaviors affect your physical, mental and spiritual health. It’s a very big field, which is strengthened by fascinating, solid research every day. It’s my job, in this column, to bring you the most recent and reliable information from the field of mind-body medicine—information you can use to achieve your most healthy way of being.

Stay Tuned for More Mind-Body Topics

Stress is only one mental state which has a big effect on health. Depression, personality, orientation to life (are you an optimist or a pessimist?), life experiences—all of these factors can direct influence the function of your entire body, including your immune system, your heart and even your blood vessels. And it works both ways. Your body “talks” to you by changing your mood, your appetite, and the pattern of your thoughts, as its needs are met or not met.

Another way to look at mind-body medicine is to think of it as a way to tap into the multidirectional conversation that’s been going on between your body, mind and spirit since the day you were born. If you’re an active participant in that conversation, you can steer your life in the direction of health and happiness rather than anxiety, stress, bad habits and unhealthy aging. My goal is to give you a variety of tools to help you do that.

The topics I’ll be covering in this column will run the gamut from specific techniques like biofeedback and hypnosis, to how your moods affect your appetite, to how stress can affect your immune system. Beginning next month, we’ll start looking at stress and how it affects you—and, just as importantly, what you can do about it.

Posted in Emotions & Your Health, Mind-Body Medicine, Tips for Healthy Living