The brain is anatomically located inside the skull and physiologically responsible to control almost every metabolic activity in the body for the person to be alive and healthy. The brain in function is what we call the mind. Under normal circumstance, the mind affects the body in term of control or homeostasis of physiological processes and the body affects the mind through the brain in term of blood supply which contains nutrients, chemicals, oxygen and drainage of waste products. This is what is referred as mind-body relationship. When one gets impaired, the other one get sick too with it and vice versa. The vicious cycle of either wellness or illness of this relationship decides the overall health status of an individual sustainably at large in term of quality and quantity of one’s life.
This complex biological relationship has historically been studied since 1940s. Still different perspectives on it has arose from dualism (separation of mind and body from the conceptualization of human functioning), exclusivism (elimination of either mind or body from the conceptualization of human functioning) to monism (conceptualization of mind and body as a single, holistic system). Despite all of these scientific perspectives still the integration of mind and body functioning is not well understood nor professionally considered especially when comes to medical approaches to patients and public health context. People have no awareness with this important human health bidirectional determinant and how it works hence find themselves in vicious cycles of sustainable illness unknowingly.
Mind-body Relationship Vicious cycles is a new proposed psycho-biological model under biopsychosocial model which explain and shows how exactly mind and the body affects each other. It will save as both a teaching and a public awareness model in addressing the mind-body relationship and its importance when comes to the quality of life and longevity of a human being.
A number of studies shows how mental illness affects the body and vice versa despite the fact that the application of this knowledge towards prevention of diseases especially when comes to public health is not well employed. When keeping the influence of genetics constant, it seems all people who have developed non-communicable diseases like cancer and diabetes have once experienced mental illness which triggered the pathway from physiological processes to lifestyle changes.
Below is the poster I once prepared, showing how mind and the body influence each other in term of health of a person in a sustainable manner as explained above, either positively or negatively;
We are living in the world where globalization and development of science and technology is so fast enough to make us mentally ill (stress, depression, addictions of alcohol, sex, drugs etc) anytime because of poor coping ability to adjust in constantly changing circumstances in our lives. People diagnosed with diseases like diabetes, cancer and other infectious diseases like HIV and Covid-19 find themselves become psychologically affected which later on affects their adherence to treatment plan and become hopeless. This endanger the sustainability of our health without us noticing. A number of people who suffers health problems with no significant findings after seeking for healthcare have been increasing too now days. This shows how important it is worth knowing about this vicious cycles which our general health condition depends. From childhood we were supposed to be taught about it but most of us even by the time we are adults now we don’t know about it.
Our governments and International agencies spend a lot of money investing in prevention and treatment of diseases which could have been reduced somehow when people could be aware with the mind-body vicious cycles. By knowing that what affects the mind, no matter how small it is, it will affect the body later on and vice versa, we could reduce both social and economic burden of a number of diseases including non-communicable diseases and mental conditions with less effort from the individual to global level.
After knowing about Mind-Body vicious cycles and how crucial it is the key determinant of our health generally, what’s your choice today? Sustainable health or illness? Be an agent of change from now, and tell the community including your friends about this important information for sustainability of our health and the community development.
