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Your Brain Could Be Controlling How Sick You Get—And How You Recover

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Summary

Researchers around the world are studying how the brain controls immune responses, hoping to find treatments for a range of diseases. Scientists have found that stimulating certain areas of the brain, such as the ventral tegmental area and the insula, can reduce scar tissue, improve heart health, and shrink tumors. Other studies have suggested that both positive and negative mental states can influence the body's immune response. Tools such as virtual reality and neurofeedback are being used to try to replicate the findings in humans, and companies are testing vagus nerve stimulators in clinical trials. This work could help to boost the placebo effect, destroy cancers, enhance responses to vaccination, and re-evaluate illnesses that are thought to be psychologically driven.

Q&As

What area of the brain does Hedva Haykin and her team at the Technion Institute of Technology study to influence how the heart heals?
Hedva Haykin and her team at the Technion Institute of Technology study the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain to influence how the heart heals.

What evidence exists to suggest that mental states can have an impact on how ill one gets and how well they recover?
Evidence exists to suggest that mental states can have an impact on how ill one gets and how well they recover in the form of anecdotal or correlational studies, such as a 1989 study that reported that women with breast cancer who underwent supportive group therapy and self-hypnosis in addition to routine cancer care survived longer than those who received only the latter.

What is the vagus nerve and what role does it have in the interaction between the nervous and the immune systems?
The vagus nerve is a bundle of some 100,000 nerve fibres that runs from the brain to the heart, lungs, gastrointestinal tract and other major organs. It has a role in directing immune responses.

What are some of the ways that scientists are exploring how to activate the brain to improve the body's immune response?
Scientists are exploring ways to activate the brain to improve the body's immune response, such as using transcranial magnetic stimulation, which uses magnetic pulses to alter brain activity, or focused ultrasound, which uses sound waves, to modulate the immune systems of people with cancer, autoimmune diseases or other conditions. They are also using tools such as virtual reality to manipulate people's stress levels and see how that changes the immune response, and neurofeedback, in which individuals learn to observe and control their own brain activity.

What implications could understanding the mind-body connection have for treating psychosomatic conditions?
Understanding the mind-body connection could help to boost the placebo effect, destroy cancers, enhance responses to vaccination and even re-evaluate illnesses that, for centuries, have been dismissed as being psychologically driven.

AI Comments

👍 This article provides a great insight into the complex connection between the brain and the body's immune responses, and the potential for using this connection to develop treatments for a range of diseases.

👎 The evidence presented in this article is largely anecdotal and correlational, so it is difficult to draw concrete conclusions about the potential therapeutic applications of this research.

AI Discussion

Me: It's about how our brains can control how sick we get and how we recover. Scientists are studying how the brain choreographs immune responses and how that could lead to treatments for a range of diseases.

Friend: Wow, that's really interesting! What are the implications of this research?

Me: Well, it could help to boost the placebo effect, destroy cancers, enhance responses to vaccination and even re-evaluate illnesses that, for centuries, have been dismissed as being psychologically driven. It could also provide an explanation for the phenomenon that many clinicians and researchers are aware of: mental states can have a profound impact on how ill we get — and how well we recover. Researchers are also exploring how to manipulate brain activity to alter the body's immune response and potentially treat conditions such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. So, it could have some really big implications for medical treatments.

Action items

Research the potential of neurofeedback and other brain stimulation techniques to treat autoimmune diseases, cancer, and other conditions.
Explore the effects of positive and negative mental states on the body's immune response.
Investigate the role of the vagus nerve in modulating immune responses and its potential as a therapeutic target.

Technical terms

Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA): A region of the brain involved in positive emotion and motivation.
Broken-Heart Syndrome: A condition in which an extremely stressful event can generate the symptoms of a heart attack.
Autoimmunity: A condition in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue.
Vagus Nerve: A bundle of nerve fibres that runs from the brain to the heart, lungs, gastrointestinal tract and other major organs.
Hypothalamus: A region of the brain involved in processing emotion and bodily sensations.
Insula: A region of the brain involved in processing emotion and bodily sensations.
Motor Cortex: A region of the brain involved in controlling voluntary movement.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): A technique that uses magnetic pulses to alter brain activity.
Focused Ultrasound: A technique that uses sound waves to modulate the immune system.
Sham-Controlled Trial: A trial in which the control group receives an implant but no active stimulation.