Gifted
Mind & Body
Connection by Alasdair Pow Did you know that good health is found in the brain as much as it is found in the body? It is important for young people to look after their brain and its development. Today the medical departments divide the body up and send some parts away to different specialists to fix up. Your heart goes to the cardiovascular specialist, your brain goes to the psychologist, and your stomach goes to the gastrointestinal specialist and so on. The connection between the mind and the body is little understood and poorly promoted in today’s society.
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The mind and the body are so closely connected that each affects the other whether for good or ill. This can be simply illustrated through the use of alcohol. If I ingest some alcoholic beverage into my stomach my mind becomes intoxicated by what I have drunk. The thoughts and emotions of the mind can be dramatically affected by the food and drink we consume. Many children suffer from behavioural problems simply by consuming foods which trigger negative reactions within the brain. We all have a chemical called serotonin inside our brain which is released by the body to stabilize our mood. When this hormonal substance is low and the body reuptakes this hormone too quickly, we can become depressed, anxious and irritable. What many do not know is the majority of serotonin resides in the digestion tract. When the digestive system is upset it can negatively affect the balance of serotonin within the brain thus helping to induce a low, depressed mood. This is the way some headaches are also caused—the origin of the pain often begins in the digestion tract. The same goes with the mind affecting and influencing the body; for certain mental stimuli can affect the body’s physiology. Mental Stress can cause pressure upon the cardiovascular system and subsequently
Youth Challenger