The Nervous System… “Small Tricks” Solving Major Health Issues
The British newspaper “The Guardian” shed light on the relationship between the human nervous system and painful emotional experiences, exploring whether certain tricks related to the nervous system can solve the most complex and mysterious health problems.
The newspaper report explains that the nervous system controls the human body, being a network of nerves influencing many unconscious physiological functions, including speech, mobility, organ processes, and emotions.
The report points out that despite the complexity of this neural network, Dr. Jody Ho, a neural psychologist and associate professor at Pepperdine University, said, “The nervous system reacts to any kind of changes in the environment, social structures, and psychology that may affect us,” emphasizing that it works alongside other systems in the body, such as the endocrine system, which regulates the release of hormones in response to mental and physiological events, such as making us sweat and tense when we feel threatened.
Types of nervous systems and their functions
There are two types of nervous systems: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The former works to make us respond to “fight or flight” under stress, while the latter is the body’s mechanism for rest and relaxation, helping us recover and maintain a state of calm.
A malfunction in the nervous system may make us overly sensitive and exaggerate our reactions to perceived threats, even if there is no reasonable danger, such as joining a work meeting, according to “The Guardian” report, indicating that the malfunction results from an imbalance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems in the body and can manifest in physical symptoms such as pain, seizures, bladder and stomach problems, and partial paralysis.
These symptoms or conditions are called “functional diseases” or “physical presentation disorders,” which are related to the nervous system and not to any other disease, according to the report.
Confrontations and disputes
The newspaper report indicates that nervous system dysfunction can increase due to direct confrontations, such as arguments with your life partner or the shock of physical assault, and can also result from prolonged stress, such as the ongoing pandemic or a toxic work environment.
Dr. Andrew Howard, a neural psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, said that individuals experiencing severe psychological or physical symptoms should consult a non-mental health specialist first to rule out illness. Afterward, the patient might benefit from talk therapy to identify the source of the perceived threat to the body.
Howard emphasizes the importance of considering the mind and body as interconnected. He says, for example, that some people experiencing stomach pain “do not believe that their nervous system is responsible for it,” but “most doctors and psychologists can understand this connection.”
