Dear Caminoheads,
((Thank you, but it is not needed. Indeed, you do not need to make a donation for me for offering an unbeatable word for scrabble. It is just a corollary fact from today’s post.))
PNEI is the study of the interaction between psychological processes and the nervous, endocrine and immune systems of the human body. The main interests of PNEI are the interactions between the nervous and immune systems and the relationships between mental processes and health. And as we know, we are experts on this topic here at Caminoheads.
I love neuroscience, and the more I become aware of the way my brain works, the more I love neuroscience. Why? Because we have never been more aware that we create our own magic kingdom or our own hell by the way we think; and we have the power to do the same with those we interact with, because our words reflect what we think, so we can make someone’s day or we can let them down with just a few words. My field of work (in my other job, I mean, not my Caminoheads South American Bureau Chief job) is related to immunology, and while we know a lot about interleukins, cytokines, biomarkers, macrophages, glial cells, etc. we also deal a lot with what we call “placebo effect”. However, the more we reflect on placebo effect, the more it sounds like PNEI… Why? Because the way we think, the way we talk, the way we live, the way interact with others has a clear impact in our health and the health of those we interact with.
~~Maybe you are thinking that I am mixing my jobs and writing in the wrong place, but please stay with me! ~~
Have you found yourself saying that getting to know Phil changed your life? And what about getting to know Felipe? And for the pilgrims, what about having walked the Camino? And for those who read poetry, doesn’t poetry change you? I am sure your answers are all “YES!!!!!” And have you wondered how is that these things changed your life? Do the exercise. I bet that some of the answers may include being less fearful of illness, being more able to accompany others who are going through an illness, learning about the goodness in people, increasing your trust in the strangers, giving images to your inner world,…
From a biological point of view, these changes we have made are measurable: the area of our brains that process fear are smaller, we secrete less glucocorticosteroids and catecholamines (stress hormones) and as a result we have more serotonin (good humor hormone) and our metabolism has less inflammation. All of these translates into less fear, less stress, more good humor, less weight, lower blood pressure, healthier arteries, knees that hurt less, etc. Bottom line: we are healthier and happier, and probably as a result, we will live longer.
I asked to someone who was present at The Oasis how it was, and this person said: “Rejuvenating”. Phil says that walking is “healing”. Here, we say that blogging is “Togethernessing”…
Psychoneuroendocrineimmunology Loves,
Cris
Indeed neuroscience is a fascinating area and the source of conciousness.How,if it does, the brain manages to generate conciousness.I most confess I tend to take a more esoteric approach,that the brain is the focal point for conciousness but not the generator.The generator is in realms unknown.As the German philosopher, Lebniz, mused “why something rather than nothing”(obviously he mused it in German!)but modern science to get around the fact that this universe,at least on Earth,has the right conditions for life postulates a multiverse of endless universes so when you have endless at least one is going to have the right conditions for us to be asking these questions.
Hi Kevan,
Are you a Capricorn? I am one of yours, I also have all these questions and have always had. Not very amusing for the Catholic priests that ran the school where I attended… And then, my curiosity took me to the lands of physics. I went into that branch of science before going into the medicine field… Somehow these days, my daily work is a bit of the two… I have all the condiments of science to keep feeding my questions, and the field of medicine to apply it all… Immunology is one of those great fields for exploration… it is the “Climate Change Crisis” of the body… and for one thing it is discovered, 10 new questions open…
And I agree with you, probably Lebniz mused that in German!!! LOL!!!
Hugs across the pond,
Cris
Thank you for this. Your timing was good for brain pondering 🙂
Bless you
Thank you, Nancy…
I believe we all intuitively know about this, right? And whoever has been close to the field of health, have surely come up with some sort of pattern on how the diseases unravel in us humans according to our “way of seeing”. I loved the book “When the body says no” from Gabor Mate… maybe you also find it interesting.
Keep coming! Love your company here! <3
Cris
Thank you. Yes. I’m so glad I found this blog.
Thank you Phil
And we are glad that you are here with us, Valerie!!!
Keep coming!!! And maybe one day you want to share with us how is that you found Phil?… Feel free if you would like, this neighborhood has room for us all!
<3
Cris
No an Aquarius ♒!22nd of January.My sister went to a Catholic school but I don’t know if she argued with the nuns who ran it about theological matters?I think that Lebniz had probably transcended formal religion but I’d guess as a German he’d started out as a Protestant of the Lutheran persuasion?I have seen the grave of another famous German philosopher, Emmanuel Kant,who, despite rejecting religion,was buried in the grounds of the Lutheran Cathedral in Konigsberg,East Prussia.By a strange twist of history he’s no longer in the same city he was buried in and nor is the cathedral Protestant yet his body hasn’t been moved!For after the Second World War Konigsberg became part of the USSR and was renamed Kaliningrad after Mickhel Kalinin a prominent Bolshevik.After the USSR broke up the cathedral was reopened but as Russian Orthodox.
How interesting!!! I read that piece about Kant and was always curious why it was…
My birthday is 23rd December… and one of the nicest priests we had at the school was ordained on that day. He used to joke with me saying that I had eternal forgiveness for my questions just because I shared with him his ordination date!
LOL
Cris
Kaliningrad Cathedral is on an island linked by a bridge to the main city.The area was originally part of Prussia and later Germany after Bismarck unified it.Like most of north Germany it rapidly adopted Protestantism after Luther had hammered his demands onto the door of the cathedral at Worms.I don’t know if Luther himself ever visited Konigsberg as Eisleben,now Lutherstadt Eisleben,is pretty far away and travel was tricky in those days.
Amazing story!