What goes on in your mind has a profound effect on your body. Thoughts and emotions affect all organs, including the immune, nervous, hormonal, circulatory, and reproductive systems. Emotional wellness is a vital part of your health & total wellness. When our emotions become excessive or repressed for a long time, they negatively impact the energy flow through our meridians.
Your Heart and Your Emotions
The heart pumps blood to nourish the cells but can get weakened due to anxiety and stress. Anxiety can affect the heart’s normal functioning, raising your blood pressure and white blood cell count and increasing blood sugar through the action of adrenalin. Stress affects circulation, the heart, and the nervous system. In early Western medicine, doctors already believed emotions caused diseases. A powerful mind-body connection through which emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors can directly affect our health. Living with fear often leads to depression and negatively impacts health. Learning to unwind before bed and nourishing a grateful heart with optimistic thinking by writing in a gratitude journal is good for your health.
Connecting Emotions and Wellness
The connection between emotions and the human body has been a core topic throughout the history of science. Research indicates there are close relationships between emotions and bodily reactions during the formation of mental experiences. Physiological responses, such as cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, skeletomuscular, and autonomic nervous systems, trigger emotional experiences. Now, we understand that direct and instantaneous interactions within the body allow an emotion to be a mental recognition and a feeling within the body.
The mind and body are within a unified framework. Different functions and components of the bodily system are related to corresponding categorical emotions.
A 2017 research on “Understanding Mind-Body Interaction from the Perspective of East Asian Medicine” analyzed relationships between the visceral system and emotions according to the principles of East Asian medicine.
The research concluded the following: -anger was related to the liver, -happiness to the heart, -thoughtfulness to the heart and spleen, -sadness to the heart and lungs, -fear to the kidneys, heart, liver, and gallbladder, -surprise to the heart and gallbladder, and -anxiety to the heart and the lungs.
The research also demonstrated that specific patterns existed between the visceral system and corresponding emotions, which suggests that each emotion is primarily associated with a connected body system and corresponds to the principles of East Asian medicine. For example, the DongUiBoGam, the Korean book compiled by the royal physician Heo Jun and was first published in 1613, states the following: “The liver is in charge of anger, the heart is in charge of happiness, the spleen is in charge of thoughtfulness, the lungs are in charge of sadness, and the kidneys are in charge of fear.”
Imbalances in emotions can lead to illnesses in their corresponding organs, such as -anger damages the liver, -happiness damages the heart, -thoughts damages the spleen, -anxiety damages the lungs, -fear damages the kidneys, and -surprise damages the gallbladder.
The relationship between the mind and the body is horizontal, meaning the heart is significantly prevalent in most emotions. Experts consider the heart as common visceral system that influences emotions. The Korean book states the heart stores the mind, and feelings of sadness, thoughtfulness, and worries all damage the heart, signifying the heart’s role in processing thoughts and emotions.
Western medicine and East Asian medicine have different understanding of emotions and their relationship to the body, which leads to distinct interpretations of illness. Western medicine deals with emotional disorders using neural language, and East Asian medicine uses somatic language.
Understanding this difference can offer a comprehensive perspective when healing the human body and its symptoms. Both viewpoints help us understand emotional health.
The somatic language uses intuition to unlock your powers to soothe, calm, and heal. From the moment we’re born, we instinctively seek ways to help and nourish our human condition.
Neuroscience Lense on Emotions
Neuroscience offers a look at how emotions impact the body. Neurophysiological factors play a vital role in the process of emotions. In 1985, neuroscientist Candace Pert discovered small proteins known as neuropeptides activate the circuits linked to emotions.
Therefore, it’s helpful to look at both Western and East Asian medicine approaches and to gain insight into how your body is functioning and take the guesswork out; getting tested with a non-invasive urine test to check over 70 markers, including your neurotransmitters, is essential.
Why is it so essential to check neurotransmitters in balancing your emotions? First, conventional doctors never check your markers, so how will they offer the best solution for you? Do you know what your neurotransmitter levels are?
Here are some of the important markers that we check with our specialized labs and why it is imperative to check the following markers:
- Norepinephrine marker: Responsible for the regulation of cardiovascular activity, body temperature, and pain sensation. Research has shown that there is a close link between this marker and anxiety and a relationship between depression and disturbance of norepinephrine in the brain.
- Serotonin marker: Found in the central nervous system, the gastrointestinal tract, and blood platelets influences biological and neurological processes, such as anxiety, aggression, appetite, sleep, mood, and thermoregulation.
- Dopamine marker: Responsible for emotion regulation is associated with mood, behavior, and cognition mediation.
Recent studies in Western medicine suggest dysregulation of neurotransmitters could be one of the most important causes of emotional issues. Interest in the neuroscientific investigation has increased dramatically in the past few decades, and that’s where functional medicine lab testing comes in to provide further insight into your total wellness. Integrating East & West would look into supporting organs while testing for your neurotransmitters and GI health levels with an organic acid test bundle. Support the liver function by balancing the HPA axis, spleen function by aiding the digestive system, and heart function with blood circulation and brain activity regulation.
The mind-body connection is natural and scientifically proven, as your body responds to how you think, feel, and act. Your body reacts physically when stressed, anxious, or upset. You may develop high blood pressure or stomachache after a stressful event.
Learn to listen to your body and keep a journal of your symptoms and feelings. Take a personal body scan to see if you can feel where your emotions impact your body.
How Emotions Affect Your Body
Every organ corresponds to a particular emotion. Every disease stems from an organ or meridian/energy channel imbalance.
- Anger weakens your Liver
- Grief weakens your Lungs
- Worry weakens your Stomach
- Stress weakens your Heart and Brain
- Fear weakens your Kidneys.
Love brings peace and harmony, strengthening your mind and body. Gaining insight into your neurotransmitters brings awareness and understanding.
Dive into the East Meets West Approach to Understanding Emotion Dysregulation when you gain insight into your neurotransmitter levels and get them balanced. Bypass the appointment and the drive and get the convenience of lab testing sent to your home. Gain access to a variety of cutting-edge lab tests to get a deep dive into your health.
Your healthcare practitioner should know about your emotional health
Discuss with your practitioner if your feelings are causing your physical problems and ways to manage not only your physical symptoms but also your emotional ones. Achieving emotional wellness is possible and can allow you to live a physically rewarding life as well.
Order your lab test directly from the lab, complete it at home, and return it to the lab. Once your results are in, we will schedule our session to review your results. You’ll receive actionable next steps to eliminate guesswork and start feeling better fast. Check your overall health with an Organic acid test and if you want a deep dive into neurotransmitters then add in the Neurotransmitter test.
