The Mind-Body Connection: Reducing Chronic Pain

“An interesting article that highlights the importance of mind-body connection.”

— Dr. Dale

From The Mind-Body Connection: Reducing Chronic Pain 

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health say that 50 per cent of older adults who live independently, and 75-85 per cent of those in assisted living facilities, have chronic pain.

Chronic pain can affect our sleep, appetite, mobility, mental health and our ability to live on our own. Unfortunately, it's so common that many patients and physicians consider chronic pain a normal part of aging.

According to American Pain Society, more than half of persistent pain sufferers have been living with their pain for more than five years, and experience their pain almost six days a week. However, a growing body of research indicates that chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia, sciatic nerve pain and lower back pain, is not something we should take for granted, and that it may be connected to non-age-related issues like loneliness, chronic stress and anxiety. In other words, there may be a stronger mind-body connection than we think.

Placebos and Nocebos

Lissa Rankin, MD, author of the best-selling book, Mind Over Medicine - Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself (find it here), is both a physician and patient who radically changed her life and healed her own body. She believes the mind-body connection deserves more credit than traditional medicine gives it. In an interview with Lifetime Daily, Dr. Rankin explains why.

"Chronic pain is the body's way of calling for help," said Rankin. "The placebo effect (where a fake medical treatment improves a patient's symptoms or cures their condition) is proof of the mind's ability to impact our health. "When patients believe they've received a treatment that will heal them, even if it's only a placebo, they often experience relief from their symptoms, and healing."

Similarly, when patients experience negative outcomes from fake medical treatments, or negative suggestions made by medical staff, they experience a "nocebo" effect. While some view this as medical quackery, Rankin disagrees. "The nocebo effect shows that our ability to develop and recover from disease and chronic pain depends in large part on what we think and believe, how we live and who we surround ourselves with."

Ted J. Kaptchuk is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Harvard-wide Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter (PiPS) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Mass. According to Kaptchuk, a host of studies show just how powerful placebos and nocebos can be.

"The placebo effect includes everything that surrounds the health care experience that can influence patient outcomes -- from a positive doctor-patient interaction to the power of imagination, hope, trust, persuasion and compassion," said Kaptchuk. "Placebos can stimulate an array of physiological responses, including changes in the brain's chemical activity, that alleviate pain, depression, anxiety, and fatigue.

"Other studies have shown that placebos address symptoms of illnesses like Parkinson's disease, asthma, irritable bowel disease, and benign prostatic hyperplasia," Kaptchuk continued. "Placebos have also been proven to augment the effectiveness of existing medicines and procedures, making them more powerful."

What Makes a Body Healthy? 

Rankin says that a healthy body is the product of a healthy life filled with strong and supportive relationships, fulfilling work, a sense of purpose, healthy outlets for creativity, spirituality and sexuality, a safe living environment, stable finances and solid mental health, all lived within a framework of love, service, gratitude and pleasure.

When one or more of those elements is out of whack, as they are for many older adults, it creates imbalances that impact the rest of your life and ultimately your health.

"Countless studies confirm that among older patients, psychosocial determinants like the presence of strong social ties and supportive friendships, along with feelings of control and purpose, are inextricably linked not only with health but also with life expectancy," Rankin said. "In fact, they may be even more important than more traditional health determinants like a healthy diet, exercise and health care.

"In countries where people live the longest, older adults have strong family and community bonds, active social lives and rich spiritual experiences," she added. "They enjoy greater longevity even if they drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and eat foods that are deemed to be 'unhealthy.'"

What Makes a Body Unhealthy?

Rankin suggests that the body creates symptoms and illnesses as motivators for change. "The body starts communicating via whispers -- subtle physical symptoms like a headache or lower back pain," she said. "If we ignore these whispers, the body begins to yell and that's when you face serious illness."

Life lived out of balance creates stress, which causes the adrenal glands to release cortisol (the stress hormone). Under normal conditions, stress hormones are only released at times of danger and they return to normal levels when danger is over.

But many people live with so much stress that cortisol levels remain abnormally high. That raises prolactin levels, which increases the body's sensitivity to pain. When nerve endings, bones and muscle fibers are chronically bathed in stress hormones, they become hypersensitive to the point where even minor pain can feel excruciating. Autoimmune functions deteriorate, inflammation occurs and chronic pain develops.

The good news, Rankin says, is that a "mind over medicine" approach to chronic painis highly effective. "When people work on improving their relationships, creative outlets, spirituality, sex life, environment and finances, they change their thoughts, beliefs and feelings," she explained. "They dial down stress responses and shift the nervous system into relaxation responses. Cortisol levels drop. Endorphins, the body's natural pain relievers, are released."

How to Cultivate a Healthier Mind-Body Connection

Rankin developed a diagnostic and treatment wellness model she calls the Whole Health Cairn. A cairn is a stack of balanced stones that stands as a memorial or landmark. In Mind Over Medicine she writes, "Like a cairn, the body is awe-inspiringly strong and resilient, and at the same time, fragile and easy to tip out of balance. If whole health is a stack of balanced stones, the body is the stone on top, the most precarious, the most likely to tumble if other stones shift."

Rankin recommends taking a good look at your life to diagnose the root causes of your stress responses. She also recommends that you practice what she calls "radical self care." Get support, believe you can heal, and seek out appropriate medical care to address your body's health needs as a whole.

This May Explain Why You Get Sick When You're Overtired

“A good reason to get more sleep.”

— Dr. Dale

From This May Explain Why You Get Sick When You're Overtired 

If you want to skip the misery that comes with fighting a seasonal cold or flu, new research explains why sleep is some of the best preventive medicine.

We already knew that not getting enough sleep can lead to an increased risk of getting sick, but Nathaniel Watson, a neurologist and sleep specialist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, said this new research helps explain why.

Sleeping poorly can block specific genetic processes in the cells that make up your immune system, which is responsible for fighting off infections and disease, according to the new study. 

“Your immune system is not functioning the way it was meant to when you’re sleep deprived,” Watson said.

This study is the first one that Watson and his colleagues are aware of that looks at what happens to the immune system’s DNA when you’re not getting adequate sleep.

“It’s further evidence of how important sleep is to human health and physiology,” Watson said. 

A new study suggests that not clocking enough sleep blocks specific processes in the DNA in your immune system that are responsible for fighting off infections, like the flu and the common cold, as well as chronic diseases.

Just an hour of lost sleep can cause cellular damage

The researchers followed 11 pairs of identical twins for the study. One twin reported sleeping at least seven hours per night, while the other slept approximately one hour less per night.

Looking at identical twins helped control for the fact that sleep needs vary by person, Watson explained. Genes account for about 50 percent of our sleep needs, meaning identical twins are the best-case scenario for getting a good comparison.

Each study participant wore a movement-tracking sleep monitor for two weeks, which confirmed that one twin in each pair slept, on average, one hour less than the other. (Total sleep time also included any daytime napping.)

The researchers took blood samples at the end of the study, which revealed that the immune system of the twin who slept less was less active than the twin who slept more. Those who slept less were actually making fewer proteins, the molecules that our bodies run on.

“They had an underperforming immune system,” Watson said of the shorter sleepers, “which would put them at higher risk of getting sick.”

To control for other potential factors that could affect sleep need and immune health, the researchers excluded people from the study who had diabetes, depression or other mental health problems and sleep disorders. They also left out shift workers, smokers, drug users and drinkers.

The big takeaway for individuals is that getting good sleep ― quality as well as quantity ― is a really important element of human health, Watson said.

“Add risk of infection to the myriad reasons why sleep deprivation is bad for you,” he said ― a list that already includes such issues as reduced performance during the day, depression, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes andirritability.

#eatclean: How Instagram is fueling the healthy-living brand boom

“I couldn’t agree more.”

— Dr. Dale

From #eatclean: How Instagram is fueling the healthy-living brand boom  

Planning to try that hot new aqua-yoga class or eyeing a subscription to that organic food delivery service? Chances are you first discovered it on Instagram, just like Melody Lowe, an Austin-based copywriter, who learned about the Whole30 diet on the platform.

“One of the hardest things is planning your meals,” said Lowe. “But Whole30 is great, the community is so engaged, and you never run out of ideas.”

The rise of Instagram has prompted some of the biggest shifts in the health and fitness industry in recent years, fueling a legion of new brands from meal plans like Whole30 and delivery services like Sakara Life to fitness programs like Bikini Body Guide and boutique fitness brands like ModelFIT. These brands have managed to elbow their way into the mainstream by catering to evolving priorities in health and fitness, as well as by employing an unconventional approach to digital marketing focused on user-generated content, a grassroots influencer approach and by cultivating dedicated communities on platforms like Instagram.

“Social media has catapulted the fitness and healthy-eating craze,” said Stephen Boidock, director of marketing at Austin-based agency Drumroll. “Until a few years ago, people learned about the latest workout or plan in the magazines, but now they more likely than not found it on Instagram.”

Changing attitudes
A major reason for the rise of these brands is the huge shift in American attitudes toward diet and fitness in general. The definition of health and fitness is no longer focused on fixing what is wrong and losing weight but rather on overall wellness, nutrition and betterment. Instead of subscribing to restrictive diets, consumers are actively choosing to incorporate fitness into their day-to-day lives. Instead of pushing weight-loss goals, healthy living embraces a body-positive attitude.

“In the past, health was about fixing sickness and very much driven by doctors and health authorities. Then it went into ‘wellness,’ which was about being balanced and living well,” said Alison Earl, strategy director at Burns Group, who also heads up its internal think tank, BG Hatch. “Now, health is about status and self-enrichment.”

In fact, according to a yet-to-be-released report on health by JWT Intelligence, the trend-forecasting arm of J. Walter Thompson, 43 percent of the respondents said that when they think about “health,” they also think about mindfulness, said Shepherd Laughlin, director at JWT Intelligence. This may seem like a low number but is significant, he said, “considering that we only just started talking about ‘mindfulness’ a few years ago.”

People are also moving away from traditional gyms. According to the IHRSA Health Club Consumer Report, from September 2016, the use of traditional pieces of fitness equipment has declined in recent years. Instead, people, especially those between the ages of 18 and 34 are a leading force in the growth of boutique fitness studios.

It is no surprise then that programs like Whole30, which specifically instructs participants to not use the weighing scale, and Sakara Life, a meal delivery service that encourages consumers to make healthy eating a lifestyle change, are becoming so popular.

“Even we tried juice cleanses and yo-yo dieting before realizing that we couldn’t live between extremes,” said Whitney Tingle, co-founder of Sakara Life, on why she and her co-founder Danielle DuBoise founded the company. “We wanted to push the broader societal transition to a more healthy lifestyle, rather than just cater to it.”

Using Instagram as a marketing channel
Health and fitness have also become a more integrated part of people’s social lives over the past few years. Social media platforms like Instagram have emerged as huge outlets for everyone to post their exercise routines, healthy meals and weight loss journeys.

Just take a quick glance at your feed, and you’re bound to find at least a few mentions of hashtags like #bbg, #fitfam or #whole30. Health and fitness today is as much about broadcasting your journey on social media as it is about following the diet.

“Experiences — including health experiences — are very important to how people define themselves now,” said JWT Intelligence’s Laughlin. “Before social media, fitness was about what your body looked like at the end of the process, but today, people share every step along the way, from selfies at the gym to yoga poses and even photos of their post-workout smoothies.”

This is something that brands like Whole30 and Sakara realize, and have actively furthered in their marketing, especially on Instagram. Both Whole30 co-founder Hartwig and Sakara co-founder Tingle credit Instagram with organically helping propel their brands forward. Whole30 has 1.3 million followers on its accounts @whole30, @whole30recipes and @whole30approved combined, with over 2.4 million photos tagged with the hashtag #whole30 itself (up from 1 million in August 2015). Meanwhile, Sakara Life has over 85,000 followers on its account @sakaralife.

Both brands use Instagram to directly engage with existing consumers online and build connections with new ones. Whole30’s @whole30recipes handle, for example, is a mosaic of user-generated content, consisting of weekly takeovers from members of its community who share their own recipes and recipe hacks. “They’ve done an exceptional job of understanding their audience and catering to their needs in terms of their content,” said Lowe, copywriter at agency Drumroll, who has done the program three times herself. “It is very relatable, and getting support and comments from people on your posts is very encouraging.”

They also don’t shy away from highlighting their consumers in order to build credibility. Sakara Life, for instance, has a feature called S-Life Mag, where it shares influential stories from its consumers.“We don’t have a storefront or big advertising dollars, so Instagram is the most important channel for us to reach people, spread awareness and build community,” said Sakara’s Tingle.

In a sign of how much traction these brands have gained on the platform, some of their more popular fans have ended up launching businesses in their own right. One of them is Elianne Alexander, a 34-year-old mother of two who started the Bikini Body Guide two years ago, gathered a sizable following and has recently launched her own program FitWithBAE. Alexander has worked with brands ranging from U.K. athleisure brand Sweaty Betty to Bliss Spa.

“The Instagram fitness community may seem very large, but it actually isn’t,” she said. “One of the most important reasons many of these brands have exploded on Instagram is because of the community aspect.”

It is this community aspect, paired with a generational shift in thinking about health, that will perhaps sustain these brands long-term, despite criticism that there are far too many of such brands with too niche a focus. Many of them are also adding to the cult of their classes and programs with more revenue-boosting lines such as clothing, food and cafes to safeguard their future. Whole30’s Hartwig, for example, has her eyes set on the health startup space and has personally invested in several startups, including Nutpods and Kettle & Fire Bone Broth.

“What makes these brands successful is how the users relate to them,” said Drumroll’s Boidock. “They empower their influencers, who are their biggest currency, and are even enabling those influencers to become brands in their own right.”