Have you thought about how emotions affect our body?
Although the human body is built on an extremely perfect balance, unfortunately there are many things that are affected by it. It is physically affected by blows, pains, injuries and sometimes reacts to emotional changes. What kind of mechanism is this that the interaction between the heart and the brain causes some changes in our body.
Anger, anxiety, fear, disappointment… These are just a few of the things that come to mind when it comes to negative emotions. We are human and we have feelings. Just as our soul and brain feel it when we experience positive emotions and keep us vigorous, negative emotions and thoughts affect our souls badly. The hormonal balance of the body is disturbed, a cycle that prevents the production of hormones necessary for happiness and harms the immune system becomes inevitable, and as a result, happiness does not occur. Chronic stress can occur. This situation can be dangerous enough to negatively affect our quality of life.
The connection between our mind and our body has been known for a long time. This close connection includes such a strong connection that it has a place in our language even in some expressions that we use in our daily life, such as "to come to your heart", "butterflies flying in your stomach" or "to be out of breath". Many scientific studies also explain the relationship between emotion and body. When the literature on this subject is examined, there are important findings that the frequency of negative emotions affects the healing process of any disease. This is information that shows us the connection between physiological well-being and psychological well-being.
Our emotions occur in the limbic system, located at the back of the brain, as a result of the stimuli we perceive with our five basic sense organs. Our emotions, which are formed in the limbic system just above the brain stem, leave the brain stem and are transmitted to our entire body through nerve cells along the spinal cord. As can be seen, throughout this process from the emergence of our emotions to their expression, mind and body work together and intertwined.
Stress Response and Negative Emotions
Studies on the hormone cortisol in our body have helped us to realize the connection between our emotions and our body more clearly. This hormone, secreted from the adrenal glands, is responsible for many regulatory functions such as blood pressure and blood sugar balance, protection of immune function and prevention of inflammation. In addition, when we encounter any danger, by raising our blood sugar; It provides enough energy for us to respond to a fight or flight response in the face of a threat. In addition, negative emotions such as fear, anxiety and sadness also increase the release of cortisol by creating a stress response in our body. Therefore, during intense negative emotions; Although it is not a real threat, because it is kept active all the time, our body may become tired and the amount of energy that the hormone cortisol spares for tasks such as regulating immune functions may decrease.
As a result, for example; the physical wounds we receive may heal later or some inflammation may occur in our body. There may even be increased risk of heart disease. Our psychological well-being, as well as our physiological immunity, can be affected by persistent or acute stress or negative emotions. Anxiety and depression problems are among the possible negative consequences for our mental health.
Our body is particularly prone to listen to the responses generated by negative emotions. It is possible to explain this situation with evolutionary mechanisms. Thanks to the survival instinct it has, our body tends to take into account the negative situations that occur in its environment or itself since ancient times. In this way, we can keep ourselves alert to any risk factor and eliminate it in a short time.
Positive Emotions and Healthy Living
Although it is possible to get rid of the effects of stress or negative emotions with physical and psychological treatment opportunities, experiencing positive emotions or relationships is important in terms of increasing our mental and physiological resilience. They both help reduce stress and strengthen our immune system, and can contribute to behaviors associated with a healthy life. In order to develop behaviors such as regular sleep, balanced diet, exercising, and mental skills such as coping with problems; We need warm relationships and happiness in our adult lives, as we did when we were children. In this way, we can balance the effects and consequences of positive and negative emotions, which are two natural parts of life.
Thank you for reading :)
