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Health Consequences of Grief, Part 1

By On · Add Comment · In E = mc2, Einstein, emotions, energy, first law of thermodynamics, health, law of conservation of energy, matter, mental suffering, mind-body, spiritual teaching

A reader asked my opinion on grief and how it affects health.  I though it would be a great topic for a blog post, so here goes:

Since we cannot separate the mind from the body, any charged (let alone hyper-charged) emotion that goes unresolved will affect the health.  Let’s look at the definition of grief: keen mental suffering or distress overaffliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret.

Most people grieve when they feel they have lost something–a loved one, whether person or pet, a possession (like a house), or for some people even losing face.  The sense of loss is so deep it can consume the mind for weeks, months or years.  This mental anguish can be so intense that all experiences become bathed in the sorrow that the person has over the loss.


What’s important for people to connect with in these situations is that, in the whole of the universe, there is no gain or loss.  Let’s take the seeming loss of a loved one, for instance.  Einstein showed that mass and energy are equivalent (represented by the equation E=mc²).  Essentially, all matter and energy are interchangeable, which in practical terms for humans signifies that we, too, are simply energy.

The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it is called the law of conservation of energy.  Energy can only change from one form to another.  A simple example: pour ice cubes into heating pot and they will change their state from solid to liquid (changing energy form); keep observing and the liquid water will turn to steam and evaporate.  Does this mean the particles making up the ice cubes is gone?  No, it has changed form from a solid to a liquid to gas (the steam), and will disperse throughout the room.  It could even be used to power an engine (energy in motion).


 

Why am I talking physics with regard to grief?  Because the same is true of living things.  We die, but our energy isn’t gone–it transforms.  Here is the beauty in this truth: it corresponds with nearly every spiritual teaching.  Whether you believe in heaven or Valhalla–there is no denying that the energy of the deceased person is not gone.  Even for the secularist, all one must remember is the law of conservation of energy: Energy cannot be created nor destroyed.  Think about that.  More to come.

Cancer Tough to Cure…But There May Be Hope

By On · Add Comment · In apoptosis, cancer, gene, genetic, mind-body, mutation, networks, pathways, prevention, tumors

Cancer may be tougher to cure than once thought. Because it is the product of many gene mutations and not just one, cancer is especially hard to located and treat. That’s the latest, anyway, out of Johns Hopkins University.

According to researchers, genes in tumors work in networks, not as single genes as once believed. The scientist studied every gene in two of the hardest to treat cancers, pancreatic and glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain cancer. They found that pancreatic cancer has an average of 63 mutated genes that code for uncontrolled cell growth, while glioblastoma multiforme averages 60 mutations. And to make matters worse they vary among people. According to one of the researchers, Dr. Bert Vogelstein, “If you have 100 patients, you have 100 different diseases.”

Sounds daunting, I know; but the good news is that they found just 12 pathways on average that caused uncontrolled growth and spread. The researchers point out that treatments should be aimed at interacting in the pathway itself, and not against a singular gene, like the current cancer drug Gleevec does.

These findings are not surprising to me and it illustrates the complexity of genetic interactions. The one gene, one illness notion is simplistic and unlikely. It happens to work that way for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)–which Gleevec was designed for–but that’s probably more the exception than the rule. The researchers point out that single gene target drugs will most likely be ineffective against most solid tumors.

I also think that finding one gene for other characteristics is unlikely too. Don’t get me wrong, geneticists think they are finding genes that act in a solitary fashion in coding for traits or processes, but I’m certain that the work done in this study is a taste of how it works as a whole–the pathways or networks are what is important.

I think that finding drugs to disrupt these pathways and cure cancer will a be very difficult task, indeed. We may not see it in our lifetime. And it really makes me think of the bigger picture. We are all developing genetic mutations and damage at all times. Our body has a way of fixing these problems. And when the damage cannot be fixed, cells have a built-in protective process called apoptosis, or programmed cell death. This evolutionary insurance plan is designed specifically to halt uncontrolled cellular growth, which is non-conducive to life. If we all have the propensity toward genetic mutation, and we all have repair mechanisms, then why does this process go haywire in some people and not others? Remember these are pathways, not single genes, so we aren’t just born one way or the other–we all have the capacity to develop cancer, every one of us.

I don’t really have an answer that would suffice here, but I do think that the future with regard to cancer will be about prevention; and much of this will come from mind-body discoveries. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me. There is a mental/emotional component that we are missing in all of this, and we’re missing it because we are so attached to materialistic explanations for everything. I think there is more, and I think it will come out sooner or later. Let’s leave it at that for now.

Self Healing Body

By On · Add Comment · In brain, brain cells, central nervous system (CNS), healing, health, injuries, mind-body, nerve cells, nerve pathways, nerves, paralysis, repair, self-healing, self-regulating, spinal cord

Check this tripper: Scientist say that the central nervous system (CNS) can rewire itself to bypass damaged nerves that cause paralysis. Tiny nerves in the brain and spinal cord can actually crisscross creating new nerve pathways between brain cells and nerve cells that control movement. Injuries once thought to be irreversible now seem to show hope of recovery.

The study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles looked at mice whose long axon nerve fibers were blocked causing paralysis of their hind legs. However, researchers left the core of the mice’s spinal cords, which contained short nerve fibers, intact. Within eight weeks the mice regained movement in their hind legs, astonishing researchers. The scientists then blocked the short nerve fibers, once again, causing hind leg paralysis. This showed that the short nerve fibers, which had reconnected, were responsible for the regain in hind leg movement.

Wow! Imagine that. Nerve cells repairing themselves and creating new connections in a self-healing, self-regulating repair process. I find this new discovery absolutely fascinating, although I’m not exactly surprised by it. I would expect this type of self-repair to be inherent in living organisms, especially one as complex as Homo sapien. And I’m certain we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg. I still contend that the greatest gains in human health and healing will be realized in the realm of mind-body dynamics in the future–and perhaps not as far in the future as one might think.

The implications go way beyond reversing paralysis, in my mind. I think that all healing probably follows this type of mechanism in one way or another. There is so much about the human body and it’s physiology that we do not know, especially on the molecular (and smaller) level. I’m excited to see where science will lead us tomorrow. The human mind and body are truly magnificent, and we have yet to realize their full potential. Truth is, we probably haven’t even seen the half of it.

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