Is there a connection?
Every day, most of us prove this connection to ourselves by engaging in a common activity--worrying.  After all, what is worrying?  It is making up a negative thought in our mind to which our body responds--with tears, increased heart rate and blood pressure, irregular breathing, increased muscle tension, stomach tension, etc.  One thought has caused millions of cellular biochemical reactions.

Why care if there is a connection?
Mind-Body Medicine is the concept that our thoughts, feelings, support sources, past experiences, stress levels and coping skills can significantly affect our health, and vice versa, as illness impacts how we view and relate to our lives. Paying attention to optimizing these factors can not only increase our sense of well being, but can have practical health results.  The following six ob/gyn studies are only a sampling of the evidence of the power of utilizing mind-body medicine.

In a study of women with infertility, the pregnancy rate of a support group that met once a week for 10 weeks and included relaxation and imagery was 55%, vs. a regular support group with 52%, and a control group with only 20%.  Interestingly, 42% of the pregnancies achieved in the relaxation/imagery group were spontaneous, versus only 12% in the support group, the rest of whom required reproductive technology. 

In another study, patients who served as their own controls and who were able to utilize self-hypnosis to imagine healing genital herpes outbreaks, decreased those outbreaks from an average of 2.5 episodes per six weeks to 0.84 episodes.  Also, specific immune cell functions (CD3, CD8, NK and LAK white cells) were statistically increased.  Cortisol (stress hormone) levels were unchanged, which suggests these immune cells increased to specifically target the herpes virus, not just as a general finding from relaxation alone.

 

In this next study, menopausal women with hot flashes who were taught to use the “relaxation response” had a significant decrease in hot flash intensity.  As an additional finding, they also significantly decreased depression and anxiety symptoms.

From an obstetrics standpoint, stress can increase epinephrine levels, which can precipitate diffuse uterine muscular activity.  Stress can also increase cortisol levels, which can suppress the immune system.  This might lead to susceptibility to infection, one of the leading causes of premature labor.  The following study shows that a group of women with premature labor at bedrest, who listened to a relaxation tape from 5-20 min./day, had significantly longer pregnancies compared to a group at bedrest alone and a non-compliant group.  Additionally, the relaxation group’s babies weighed significantly more. Sometimes even one week longer gestation can make all the difference between a baby having to be placed on a respirator or not. 

 

Finally, there are numerous articles showing that relaxation decreases blood pressure.  Here are two showing how relaxation can be applied successfully to pregnant women with pregnancy-induced hypertension (pre-eclampsia).  This first one demonstrates a significant decrease in MAP (mean arterial pressure) in a relaxation training group from entry into the study to one week prior to delivery (PTD), as opposed to increased blood pressure levels in a bedrest plus education group and a bedrest alone group.

This second slide shows how relaxation decreased by almost 2/3 the need for hospital admission due to worsening pregnancy complications of high blood pressure.

[8-10% of pregnancies are preterm, costing over $6 billion dollars in 2000, and 5-10% of pregnancies have blood pressure complications.  Given the prevalence and expense of preterm labor and hypertension in pregnancy, not to mention the heartache and destroyed families these conditions cause, it is distressing that more use is not made of something as easy, side-effect free and cheap as utilizing relaxation.  Unfortunately, American medical training has not traditionally addressed mind-body issues, and most physicians are unaware of these findings.]

Let us now explore how this mind-body connection comes about.