https://experiencelife.com/article/emotional-biochemistry/
This year, we studied many different
kinds of chemical reactions such as displacement, single displacement etc., as
well as how they affect the workplace, industry, and the natural world.
However, chemical reactions influence us as individuals on a much more personal
level than we realize. Recent scientific studies have brought to light that the
biochemical reactions in the brain have a direct link with the function of the
body. In short, emotions and the mind may be more intrinsically connected to
the physical bodies than previously thought.
To understand this concept, a few
key biochemical terms must be defined. Firstly, peptides, which are discussed
in the article, are long strings of amino acids, which later become protein.
Peptides send signals that ‘instruct’ the cells in the body how to function.
Secondly, a receptor is a protein molecule on the surface of a cell that
receives chemical signals.
For a long time, there has been a
vague understanding that intense stress may be bad for us, because stress
induces the release of chemicals such as adrenaline, which throws the body off
balance, and may cause depression in the long-term. But recently, strong
evidence has come forth that indicates that there is a strong link between
emotions and peptides.
Emotions cause a wave of peptides
throughout the body that carry various types of information that affect cellular
function. When cellular receptors receive these messages, it changes cellular functions
such as cell division, adding or subtraction energetic chemical groups, opening
or closing ion canals, or making new proteins. All of these things have a
drastic impact on your body, from your immune system, to your metabolism. This phenomenon
can also apply to emotionally charged memories or experiences. In short, your
emotions impact how much and what kind of peptides you have in the cellular
receptors in your body, which plays an important role in your body function.
Additionally, researchers at the
University of Massachusetts have discovered that bodily systems such as the
digestive, endocrine nervous and immune system are all capable of receiving the
same peptides as the brain. This discovery indicates that the biochemical
changes caused by emotions affect virtually every system in the body; not just
the mind.
This information has interesting
implications for the way mental health is viewed in society. In the school
system and the work place, competitive and ‘sink or swim’ environments are
fostered, where students are under immense pressure to work as hard as they can
to meet expectation, often at the expense of their peace of mind. However,
physically health is held to a higher value, and is considered to take priority
over schoolwork. Given this new evidence that emotional wellbeing and physical
wellbeing may be unavoidably interconnected, is forcing students to deal with enormous
amounts of stress ethical or responsible?
What do you think? Should the
school system (and thus, the workplace) prioritize emotional wellbeing over
productivity? If so, to what degree would that be realistic in the bigger
picture?
3 comments:
Maia,
What an interesting topic. Definitely, a lot here to discuss and to further explore. There is definitely a lot of current research focusing in the area of investigating the possible effects of chronic stress on physical and metal well-being. Your question, alludes to issues that are being discussed extensively at the moment' and like many other complicated and interconnected issues seems to be bring more questions rather than answers. One thing I always wonder is how is someone able to measure that amount of emotional stress is deemed excessive or chronic. As a complex organism, that responds to many internal and external factors, this seems to be a question that is very difficult to answer. There are decades of research suggesting that some levels of stress are very healthy and in many cases necessary, but as you have presented...to much of something also has its consequences. Do you have any suggestions on how educators, employers, and society in general can begin to work towards being more aware of how to identify factors that cause emotional stress that may lead to negative outcomes?
On that note, in these days many psychologists are teaching people with severe anxiety cognitive behavioural therapy or mindfulness-induced cognitive behaviour therapy. In CBT and MiCBT the idea is to change the way the person sees stress, to change the way they think of it, really to eliminate the mental processes that cause the release of neurotransmitters which cause stress.
Consider too the case of Wim Hof, who holds the world record for the longest period of time in an ice bath at over one hour, climbing Kilimanjaro and Everest in shorts(although in the latter he did not finish due to a sprained ankle) and a number of other cold related stunts. It is believed that he is able to modulate his immune system and gains his ability to survive such cold by inducing a release of certain neurotransmitters. He was able to prove that one can modulate their immune system after teaching a number of volunteers to withstand the temperatures that he thrives in.
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