How your thoughts can affect your health

By Courtney Elder | Apr. 25, 2018 Medically reviewed by Scott Dershowitz, LMSW, CMC

When you bring up the mind-body connection in relation to health, people often think of holistic practices. Often classified as complementary or alternative medicine, activities like yoga or meditation are some of the most common ways to tap into this element.

While many types of practices can help us to tune into our physical well-being, scientists have found that our thoughts can impact our health from a more direct standpoint. Not only does our mental health play a role in our overall level of health, but the way we think about our own physical activity can actually shape our outcomes.

What is a mind-body connection?

Instances of diagnosed mental illness are becoming increasingly common. Over 47 million people in the United States are affected by mental illness in any given year. These diagnoses can include mild depression, generalized anxiety, or schizophrenia, and the ways in which symptoms manifest themselves can vary dramatically. The common thread, however, is that whatever affects a person mentally can also impact physical health.

Take depression, for example. Some of the most common symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder are of the mind: sad mood or recurrent suicidal thoughts. Yet, the physical symptoms of this condition can include insomnia, chronic fatigue, and even aches and pains throughout your body. On a wider scale, those with mental health diagnoses more often experience medical comorbidities such as obesity, asthma, heart disease, and high blood pressure than the rest of the population.

It’s also important to note that people with mental illness are prescribed medications that can have side effects that affect the body, such as weight gain and dry mouth.

Beyond just mental health: Psychogenic pain

The connection between how we think and how we feel is even further proven with the study of psychogenic, or psychosomatic, pain, a condition where the body and mind are intimately linked to a particular set of emotions and symptoms. Many who struggle with this disorder are often sent from doctor to doctor, as it’s sometimes difficult for medical practitioners to diagnose and treat it.

Chronic pain has been linked to psychosomatic causes, as the mind can produce or exacerbate physical symptoms. John Sarno, a leading expert in psychosomatic medicine, developed a theory that many symptoms are an unconscious distraction to aid in repression of deep emotional issues. Essentially, people start to feel physical pain rather than experience emotional pain. There have been hundreds of cases of different health issues, ranging from temporary blindness, muscle pain, inability to walk, etc, that have been tied back to psychosomatic reasons.

A case study in exercise

The connection between mind and body goes beyond those with mental illness or psychosomatic pain. Scientists at Stanford University embarked upon a 21-year project, which examined 61,000 adults and their patterns of thought around exercise. The data collected included how often the participants engaged in physical activity as well as how they felt about their own efforts compared to their peers.

Because of the length of the study, some of the individuals died during the study from a wide range of health issues. However, those who thought they were not engaging in as much activity as their peers actually died younger than others, despite implementing the exact same amount of exercise.

What caused this pattern to emerge? Researchers attribute it to a number of possible factors, all of which continue to support the strong notion of the mind-body connection:

Comparing ourselves to others may encourage a demotivation, where if we believe we are less fit than our friends and family, we may not even bother trying to exercise in the first place.
Placing strict expectations on ourselves can create undue stress and may lead to negative health conditions. This outcome is also supported by the data examining how our mental health and emotions can dictate our physical health.
The “nocebo effect” is the final reason for early death in those who thought they were less active. The simple act of a negative thought can be enough to lessen the amount of benefit, so if you believe you aren’t exercising enough, then your body will not reap the same amount of benefit compared to those who have a positive outlook.

How to use the mind-body connection to your advantage

When it comes to your mindset around physical activity and your overall health, it’s important to remember that you get to determine what elements encompass an active lifestyle. Working with your primary care physician to develop a diet and exercise plan that meets your needs is your best bet to seeing results, as long as you keep your thought process positive!