Tag: Meta-Health

How childhood trauma affects muscle function in old age

In the newly published study “Childhood adverse life events and skeletal muscle mitochondrial function” [1], researchers could show how adverse events in childhood affect muscle function in later life.

Using data from the “Muscle, Mobility and Aging” study, 879 people over the age of 70 were tested for ATP production in their muscle cells. ATP is the energy that muscles use to work. It is produced by the mitochondria in each cell. Mitochondria can sense social stress and respond at the cellular level: these bacterial-derived organelles are known to change their function and shape when cells are threatened by physical or social attacks, resulting in extracellular ATP and reactive oxygen species – so-called free radicals. This reduces the working energy of cells and promotes inflammation and tissue aging. [2] [3]

Apparently, such reactions in muscle cells and their mitochondria later in life can be pre-determined by trauma in childhood: the more traumatic events in childhood were reported by study participants, the more pronounced the decline in cellular ATP in their muscles – which means less strength and faster fatigue. Other possible influencing factors such as age, gender, education, body mass index, symptoms of depression, smoking or physical activity were also taken into account, but these did not change the overall results. In previous studies, similar results were found for blood cells. [4] [5] [6]

These findings shed light on the mechanisms of the biological reactions and imprints known in META-Health to happen after social-psychological trauma. Adverse events in childhood lead to feelings of insecurity and helplessness in many people, which can trigger an inhibitory reaction in their autonomic nerves – a freeze or collapse reaction shown by a lack of energy. [7] [8] This unconscious survival strategy and the signals it triggers become a default pattern that affects all levels of biological functioning and health.

Further implications of this unconscious biology are cognitive in nature: our experiences shape our beliefs and expectations, our self-image and our values. Our psychological profile thus becomes a predictor of health challenges in the present and future.

Usually, the work of META-Health practitioners focuses mainly on the cognitive and emotional aspects of health, healing and disease prevention. According to these new findings, processing, renegotiating and transforming trauma and our reaction patterns to it is a prerequisite for optimizing the strength, mobility and resilience that we want to retain as we age!




References:
[1] https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.adj6411
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028390822003926
[3] http://naviauxlab.ucsd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/NaviauxHealingCycle_2018_v2.pdf
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29525040/
[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27530300/
[6] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33004627/
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3108032
[8] http://naviauxlab.ucsd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/NaviauxHealingCycle_2018_v2.pdf

Pictures: Pixabay users Gerd Altmann, SkieTheAce

Liberty for Health

To an increasing extent, the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 dominates human life in Europe. There is a lot of speculation about the medical aspects, but the concretely foreseeable social consequences are falling behind more and more, despite the fact that competent scientists, such as the German top-virologist Prof. Christian Drosten from the Charité, are urging to base political decisions on an interdisciplinary scientific discussion [1]:

Now is the time when politics absolutely needs a few days of rest to get advice. Not always from the same people, but also from other disciplines. And it is imperative that we now allow policymakers to be calm about such important decisions as school closures. It is harmful now when political journalists say that “we are doing what we always do. That is, we take a quote from this expert, play it to the public and create an urgency for politicians to address this mood that is created in the people, by making decisions”. I think, at this point it is bad for politicians to simply decide quickly and then have to correct the course because the decisions were too grave. Political journalists should now try to work a bit more like science journalists – with more background and with a little more calm.

So let’s take the time to look at the new coronavirus from different angles.

The natural interplay between humans and viruses

Viral effects on the human body can be detected quite clearly already at the end of the Neolithic period [2]. To this day, much of human immunity can be traced back to the natural interplay between the virus and humans.

The spreading of a new (or sufficiently modified) virus can in principle come to a standstill due to two effects: Either when the pathogen for whatever reasons loses its virality, as in the SARS pandemic 2002/03 [3], or when the number of immunized persons relevantly exceeds the number of non-immunized persons.

Prof. John Ziebuhr heads the Institute of Medical Virology at the University of Giessen. He describes the process regarding SARS-CoV-2 as follows [4]:

” At the moment, we assume that every person infected in a society without immunity, as we currently have, infects three other people on average. The spread of the virus can only be stopped if each infected person infects less than one other person. If two-thirds of the population had contact with the virus and are therefore immune, two of the three people that each would infect are gone. The virus will then continue to circulate, but will no longer find people who are massively infected. At least that’s the theory.”

Upon request, Prof.Ziebuhr confirms that the virus will spread extremely widely, no matter how much we restrict our daily lives:

“The question is only in what time. Does it happen within six months, or twelve, or will it take even longer? Measures are designed to slow down the outbreak as much as possible. This makes a lot of sense so that our actually well-functioning hospital system does not collapse due to the large number of patients who need treatment in the intensive care unit. This is a real danger at the moment.”

Lockdown effects – the Canary Islands as example

The Canary Islands are an all year round tourist destination, with 13.2 million tourists in 2019 and a turnover of 15,071 million €. [a]

[a] https://turismodeislascanarias.com/sites/default/files/promotur_indicadores_egt_2019_en.pdf

In connection to the Spanish lockdown decree (in effect since 15 March 2020) , the regional Canary goverment gave order to disconnect the islands completely from the international flight and sea traffic for an unlimited period. The primary effect is the shutdown of the whole tourism sector. Tourism is a fundamental sector in the economy of the Canary Islands, generating more than 40% of all jobs and 35% of the GDP. [b]

[b] https://www.mincotur.gob.es/en-us/crisis-thomas-cook/Paginas/index.aspx

Already without this shutdown unemployment is a relevant problem for the Canarian society, especially for the youth:
– 54.6% unemployed persons under 20 years
– 31.9% unemployed persons between 20 and 24 years
– 17.5 % unemployed persons between 25 and 54 years
– 17.4 % unemployed persons over 54 years

But is not only the big hotel chains which are affected by the shutdown. There are also lots of small businesses directly related to tourism which have to close their doors now [b]:

“Tourism is, by its nature, a horizontal sector, having an impact on practically every sector of the economy, and it is capable of generating induced income in sectors such as commerce, leisure and the services in general which our visitors use, whether they come through a tour operator or independently.”

Half a year ago the Canarian tourism sector experienced a challenging situation because of the bankcruptcy of the UK based travel company Thomas Cook in september 2019. The main problems for many companies and self-employed individuals arising from the failure of Thomas Cook were [b]:
– lack of short-term liquidity
– drastic worsening of the balance sheets

If we assume the most favourable scenario according to Prof. Ziebuhr, the whole Canarian tourism sector would need to shutdown for at least 6 months, and the entire summer season would be cancelled. How will individuals react on these severe life changes?

The people behind the numbers – the forgotten factor?

Do massive existential concerns in the form of an economic crisis pass by people without a trace? The evidence casts doubt: [10]:

Like the US researchers led by Michael T. French now, alcohol abuse is rising significantly in deteriorating macroeconomic conditions, not only among those who have lost their jobs, but also among those who fear for it. The detailed evaluations show that the development can be seen in all population groups, genders and ethnicities, most clearly in young adults between the ages of 18 and 24.

Using the example of the economic crisis of 2008/09, the Medical Journal found a significant increase in the suicide rate: [11]:

The 27 European countries were those hit hardest, with an increase of 4.2 percent and 18 American countries (up 6.4 percent). In Europe, the suicide rate increased especially among 15-24 year olds, which is likely to be related to high youth unemployment. In America, it mainly affected 45-64-year-olds.”

“Suicides are just the tip of an iceberg,” Chang said. For every completed suicide there would be 30 to 40 attempts, and for each attempt another ten people with suicidal thoughts. In addition, the economic crisis of 2009 was far from over. According to initial estimates, the suicide rate is expected to have risen by another 10.8 percent in 2010.”

It is essential in this context that chronic stress, such as a prolonged economic crisis, can bring the immune system out of balance.[12][13] Chronic stressors have a negative impact on almost all functional measures of the immune system. Both natural and specific immunity are negatively affected.[14]

The role of the immune system in Covid-19

Any virus, however dangerous, is nothing without its host cell, which it needs for to multiply. With the primary intention of its spread, it would of course be counterproductive for a virus to kill its host. In any case, a virus contains foreign biological information that activates the natural control mechanisms of the human body.

The gateway for SARS-CoV-2 is the enzyme ACE2, which is expressed in many cells, such as in the heart muscle cells, in the vascular cells of the heart, in the kidneys, in the intestines and in the lungs.[15] There is the main entrance for the virus, which is mainly transmitted by droplet infection in the air we breathe.

However, the lungs are far from sterile [16]:

It has only been known for a few years that bacteria, fungi and viruses also live in the lungs – actually in all humans. The totality of these microorganisms is called the microbiome. Scientists are still investigating the function of this lung microbiome in detail.[

In the media, pneumonia in current COVID-19 cases is mainly blamed on the new virus. Would it not make sense to determine as many components of the lung microbiome as possible in such patients by type and quantity in order to gain an overview of the interactions?

Research teams at the Charité developed a model of human lung tissue that can simulate essential characteristics of pneumonia. They first infected the tissue with influenza viruses and then with pneumococci (bacteria) to simulate severe pneumonia.

Due to their structural differences, viruses and bacteria are rendered harmless by the immune system in various ways [17]:

We have been able to demonstrate that the anti-virus immune response is harmful to the subsequent control of a bacterial infection with pneumococci.”

This research suggests that the overlay of the viral infection by Sars-CoV-2 with a bacterial infection may be the cause of the life-threatening pneumonia observed in Covid-19. So far, no information has been made public about other players, such as influenza viruses, whose occurrence would not be uncommon this winter.

Unprotected at the mercy of the virus?

This potential explanation for the serious illnesses in individual cases of Covid-19 shows that we are dealing with a complex system. But the human organism would not have survived millennia of interaction with viruses if it were not able to handle advanced challenges such as these.

In the case of SARS-CoV-2, Prof. Drosten describes in his podcast of 17.3.2020 the discovery that the viruses are mainly active in the throat area in the first week of infection, before descending into the deeper airways in the second week. This gives the body the lead for its immune response before fundamental bodily functions such as breathing can be impaired [18]:

With this virus, the seroconversion happens with high reliability already at the end of the first week in these patients. This is something I was both surprised and pleased about, because this suggests that in the event of this infection, immunity very quickly sets in. And of course you can speculate a lot about why this is so and why it is so different from SARS. And there are two clues.

One is theoretical and easy to understand. If we have a virus that is already replicating in the throat before it goes into the lungs, then we actually can count the whole time that the virus is already replicating in the throat, for immunisation to develop. In other words, we say the antigen stimulus, i.e. the stimulus caused by the presence of a virus, on the immune system already goes off. And perhaps it is the case that at the moment when the virus then migrates down into the lungs at the end of the first week, these patients are already so far that they actually make an immune reaction, because there was this advance in the throat before. And this is a good situation. Maybe this protects against infection of the lungs. Thinking around the corner, this is a very interesting hypothesis.

I am deliberately not saying explanation, but I am saying a hypothesis. An idea that could explain why some patients, even though they are very young, still get a fast, difficult course. Because it is conceivable that some persons do not get infected in the throat first, but immediately inhale a high dose of virus from the air into the lungs and that the infection starts right there. In these cases it is more like with the severe SARS virus, the original SARS virus.

So for each of us, the key to successfully coping with Covid-19 lies in our own immune system, which regulates resilience to foreign bodies and information. It does this with the help of both innate and acquired mechanisms to learn and to filter, what can be tolerated or even used, and what is recognized and combated as harmful – a fine balance. An as yet unknown virus has the chance to enter the body and replicate there, before the body decides whether and by what means it will neutralize the virus. This is why influenza viruses actually have to mutate every year to produce flu symptoms.

Knowing this, the majority of people need not fear these symptoms. As a rule, there will be little response to exposure. And viruses are not designed to kill their host.

So how can you strengthen your immune system?

The Charité’s aforementioned studies of the lung microbiome already suggest that there are no plug&play solutions here. Harvard University has summarized its many years of research as this: [19]

The idea of boosting your immunity is enticing, but the ability to do so has proved elusive for several reasons. The immune system is precisely that — a system, not a single entity. To function well, it requires balance and harmony. There is still much that researchers don’t know about the intricacies and interconnectedness of the immune response. For now, there are no scientifically proven direct links between lifestyle and enhanced immune function.

But that doesn’t mean the effects of lifestyle on the immune system aren’t intriguing and shouldn’t be studied. Researchers are exploring the effects of diet, exercise, age, psychological stress, and other factors on the immune response, both in animals and in humans. In the meantime, general healthy-living strategies are a good way to start giving your immune system the upper hand.

In this respect, Covid-19 seems to be overlaying with other factors, such as pneumococci, that confuse and overload the body’s filter system. What may contribute to such an overload?

The social factor

A study by the John Hopkins School of Medicine showed that even chronic, subclinical mild depression can suppress an elderly person’s immune system [12]:

Participants in the study were in their early 70s and caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease. Those with chronic mild depression had weaker lymphocyte-T cell responses to two mitogens, which model how the body responds to viruses and bacteria. The immune response was down even 18 months later, and immunity declined with age. In line with the 2004 meta-analysis, it appeared that the key immune factor was duration, not severity, of depression. And in the case of the older caregivers, their depression and age meant a double-whammy for immunity.

As expected, the normal aging process makes us weaker. But a longer-termed depressive mood showed to be the main factor for a poorly functioning immune system. This is not just the case for the elderly. Young people are responding to a lack of social contact and support, as a Carnegie Mellon University study with students after flu vaccination showed [12]:

Small networks and loneliness each independently weakened immunity to a core vaccine component. Immune response was most weakened by the combination of loneliness and small social networks, an obvious health stress facing shy new students who have yet to build their friendship circles.

With regard to measures to contain the Corona pandemic, the aspects of unwanted social isolation and the effects of longer-term unemployment should therefore be taken into account.

In the sense of salutogenesis, restrictions of personal freedom must not only be comprehensible and accepted, but must also be conceivably temporary and thus manageable.

Also the importance of sunlight and vitamin D, as well as of exercise and body experience for the immune system, should also be incorporated into meaningful measures.
The preservation of social distance must not degenerate into house arrest for responsible citizens, which prevents all outdoor activities even under the threat of fines, as is currently the rule in Spain and Italy.

No alternative?

Based on this knowledge, we can use the experience of countries with different strategies to guide our policies. In Italy, Spain and France, the authorities are resorting to restricting fundamental rights.

On the other hand, Sweden and Iceland choose transparency and less restrictive measures than the other European countries. Quarantine measures are adapted to the need in order to limit social stress.[20][21] Swedish state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell warned that there was no ‘secret formula’ that could accurately predict where the road would lead [22]:

The basic data is so uncertain. It is not possible to know.

A statement of Socratic wisdom that should be incorporated into any risk assessment.

Support for self-regulation

There are many ways in which responsible citizens can promote their own resilience:

  • Vitamin C through fresh fruit and vegetables, lactobacteria or dietary supplements [23]
  • Vitamin D due to sunlight, fatty fish or as a dietary supplement [24]
  • Vitamin A by liver, sweet potatoes, carrots, along with some fat [25]
  • Iron and zinc from organ meat, egg and dairy products, or dietary supplements [26]
  • Immunomodulators with medicinal herbs such as Echinacea, Baptisia, Thuja, Eleutherococcus, Pelargonium and Uncaria [27][28]
  • Sufficient and restful sleep [29]
  • Hardening, hot-cold applications [30][31]
  • Mental training and meditation [31]

Maintaining public health is a challenging task, especially in the case of scientifically unsecured forecasts. The primary task of politics in these times is to secure the public and private health systems, as well as to promote independent research to the best of their ability. From a social point of view, the free, individual health care by every fellow citizen is the best barrier against the temporary overload of the health system

sources:
[1] https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/info/coronaskript126.pdf
[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viren#Erforschungsgeschichte
[3] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS-Pandemie_2002/2003#Abklang
[4] https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/medizin/coronavirus-wie-sieht-die-zukunft-nach-dem-ausbruch-aus-a-4f1f91c6-eb02-4423-acbf-06fa25987914
[5] https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/schleswig-holstein-untersagt-touristen-zutritt-a-3ed8bc38-f81d-42fa-8b19-4ce585e9fae9
[6] https://taz.de/Skandinavier-sind-sich-nicht-einig/!5668534/
[7] https://www.tvsh.de/fileadmin/content/Infothek/Download-Center/STB_SH_Sonderveroeffentlichung_WiFa_2018.pdf
[8] https://www.welt.de/regionales/hamburg/article173818053/Schleswig-Holstein-Landeshaushalt-2018-beschlossen.html
[9] https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schleswig-holstein/Coronavirus-Wir-fahren-soziale-Leben-runter,corona718.html
[10] https://www.pressetext.com/news/20111015004
[11] https://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/55880/Wirtschaftskrisen-erhoehen-Suizidrate
[12] https://www.apa.org/research/action/immune
[13] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4465119/
[14] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361287/
[15] https://www.deutsche-apotheker-zeitung.de/daz-az/2020/daz-11-2020/mit-loeslichem-ace2-gegen-covid-19
[16] https://www.tk.de/techniker/gesundheit-und-medizin/behandlungen-und-medizin/copd/tk-plus-bei-copd/dmp-news/mikroorganismen-in-der-lunge-2059164
[17] https://www.charite.de/forschung/forschung_aktuell/pressemitteilung/artikel/detail/forscher_heben_immunblockade_gegen_bakterien_auf/
[18] https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/info/coronaskript130.pdf
[19] https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-to-boost-your-immune-system
[20] https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/smittskydd-beredskap/utbrott/aktuella-utbrott/covid-19/aktuellt-epidemiologiskt-lage/
[21] https://www.covid.is/data
[22] https://www.di.se/nyheter/1400-folj-folkhalsomyndighetens-presskonferens/
[23] http://www.medizinfo.de/immunsystem/selbst/vitaminc.htm
[24] https://www.focus.de/gesundheit/gesundleben/vorsorge/news/vitamin-d-schluesselhormon-des-immunsystems_aid_487672.html
[25] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_A
[26] https://www.focus.de/gesundheit/ernaehrung/gesundessen/zink-hilft-bei-erkaeltung-zink-staerkt-immunsystem-haut-und-naegel_id_4723229.html
[27] https://www.aerzteblatt.de/archiv/8114/Pflanzliche-Immunmodulatoren-vermindern-Stressreaktionen
[28] http://phytotherapie.at/08_Bauer%20mod..pdf
[29] https://www.haz.de/Nachrichten/Wissen/Uebersicht/Neue-Studie-Wie-Schlaf-das-Immunsystem-staerkt
[30]https://www.focus.de/gesundheit/gesundleben/alternativmedizin/hydrotherapie/kneipptherapie/abhaertung_aid_21239.html
[31] https://www.planet-wissen.de/video-kaelte-trainiert-das-immunsystem–das-beispiel-wim-hof-100.html

Bio-Hacks with the Iceman – from a META-Health perspective

Wim Hof, aka the Iceman, defies the limits of human capacity.

He climbed the 5895m high Mount Kilimanjaro wearing only shorts & shoes.

He ran through the Namib desert in the same attire, without drinking any water.

In wintery fiords, he swam for a distance of 66 meters under the ice.

He sat for two hours in a container full of ice and warmed it up with his body temperature.

This man is a freak. Or is he?

The story, bio-logically commented

Wim Hof was a father to 4 children whom he could always inspire and cheer up, when his wife, who was suffering from depression, unsuspectedly died by suicide. Wim was left to raise the kids alone, and he was hugely distressed. It was then when he found respite in merciless nature; he was intuitively drawn to expose himself to the cold of a frozen lake. 1

“The cold silenced my mind. It brings you into connection with the deeper part of the brain, which is the adrenaline, the reptilian mode… which is not thinking but only feeling.
I didn’t feel the cold at all, but just power – which is connection.” 2

From Dr Hamer’s concept of biological laws and the brain-organ-social connections we learn that somatic sensation and suffering are suppressed in the “cerebellum constellation”. This means that when we are feeling under attack from all sides or on various levels, without means to protect ourselves, the brain’s inherent “pain-killer mechanism” is activated.

What Wim needed for the survival of his family was focus and invincibility – he used the power of his survival brain, the “Old Brain”, and learned to trigger it consciously by challenging himself with seemingly impossible feats.

Dr Hamer might have recognized the ultimate alpha male and leader in him: Wim Hof is not so much interested in ideologies but in the raw, true nature of things, and how to control and to use them for the benefit of his community – pacing and leading and empowering people all over the world.

Or might there still be a “postmortal constellation“ at play that evokes fearlessness and the devotion to something “bigger than oneself” when one has lost everything that matters?

Besides these speculations, Wim Hof seems to be a caring and humorous human being who likes to sing, joke and play the guitar.
Consequently, after 25 years of developing and using his method for himself, he felt it to be solid and ready to be studied and taught. It consists of 3 pillars:

  • A breathing sequence that fills you with energy
  • Challenges like cold exposure, breath holds, and proofs of balance and strength
  • Commitment to mental training for focus and endurance

With the help of these techniques, Wim Hof and his trainees have demonstrated control over their organ reactions and immune system, to the extent that when they were injected with an endotoxin that would usually trigger definite symptoms like fever, inflammation and tiredness, they remained symptom-free.3

This is great news in the context of META-Health, as we understand that the same symptoms (and more) can be caused by social conflicts, where they often appear in the phase of regeneration after addressing and resolving that conflict. It is during this phase where a learning step is processed and integrated by our mind and organism; and this integration process can take its time and toll on our system. Empirical evidence tells us that pains and problems during this phase often lead to sequels and self-devaluation in the concerned person, which interferes with the healing process.

To remain in gratitude in the present, and to prevent hyperalertness and hypersensitivity in the future, we need faith and self-esteem – and these can efficiently be developed with the Wim Hof method (WHM), to the extent that we might not need to experience those typical symptoms at all while regenerating!

It also offers massive hope and relief to people who, according to Dr Hamer’s concept, would fear to resolve long-standing conflicts because that might lead to dramatic or unmanageable symptoms such as heart attacks in the “healing peak”.

The science: what’s happening in the body?

This study 4 has been conducted to find what changes in brain and organ tissue are accomplished by the WHM:

  • The FMRI scan taken while Wim was in the ice-bath shows a drop in activity in parts of the insula. In META-Health these refer to the coronaries, laryngeal and bronchial territorial areas, meaning that stress-reactions from social settings connected to love, power and fear are deactivated. Conventional science finds these areas to be “uniquely associated with self-reflection, and which facilitate both internal focus and sustained attention in the presence of averse (e.g. cold) external stimuli.” This means resilience in conflictive situations…
    Reference: “Brain over Body” Michigan Study
  • Simultaneously, emphasized activity was noted in the periaqueductal grey area in the midbrain, referring to pain modulation (like the “cerebellum constellation” – the brain’s inherent “pain-killer mechanism” mentioned above) and smooth muscle activity, which could be interpreted as reactions in arterial muscle or in the fascia of the breathing muscles.
    Reference: “Brain over Body” Michigan Study
  • Forceful respiration (as well as the urge to breathe at the end of breath holds) results in increased sympathetic – mobilizing – innervation and the release of adrenaline. This matches the active phase of stress management by the adrenal medulla, but Wim does it here at will, and without conflict. To be able to do this is of great help in reframing anxiety rssponses, differentiating excitement from helplessness.
  • Glucose consumption rises in the intercostal muscles, generating heat that dissipates to the lung tissue and warms circulating blood in the pulmonary capillaries, to protect the lungs and heart. Both-sided activation, just like in conflicts of self-devaluation regarding breath and protection of the inner space, creates self-motivation, the feeling of power and invincibility which has been called “megalomania”. Connected to this, the release of opioids and endocannabinoids 5 could be noted, comparable to a “runner’s high” under profuse exertion.
  • In analysing the immune responses in Wim Hof and his trainees upon being injected with e-coli bacteria, fewer pro-inflammatory cytokines and more anti-inflammatory cytokines were found in their blood, compared to the control group. Cytokines are the regulators of our body’s immune responses under stress and regeneration.
  • In studying the extremely low incident rate of mountain sickness (hypoxia) in trainees of the WHM who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in just 2 days, the breathing method obviously develops skills that are useful for athletes and prevents activation of lung tissues like goblet cells and alveoli through conflicts of suffocation and the fear of dying (due to lack of air). 6

Now: Let’s breathe!

Here are the steps of the breathing sequence, which resemble “Tummo” in Yogic exercises:
Caution: Always do this well-sustained, either lying down or sitting, and never when attention is needed elsewhere! Never do this in the water!

  1. Power breathing: Take 30 forced in-breaths – direct the air into all body parts and then release only the excess, so no deep exhale here. This “willful hyperventilation” can trigger symptoms of hypocapnia like tingling sensations and lightheadedness. Enjoy the experience!
  2. Breath hold: Then breathe out and stop breathing for as long as you can. Direct the energy to the places you want to heal and to enhance. This breath pause may take several minutes!
  3. Break: When you feel the acute need to inhale – usually after some contractions of your diaphragm – take a deep breath and keep it in for 10 seconds.
  4. Repeat this sequence 1-3 times.
  5. Alternative: during the breath hold you can do push-ups or other feats to test your power.

Let’s face the cold!

Cold exposure stimulates the (immobilizing) vagus nerve, and it also increases the release of endocannabinoids, both of which support calm, relaxation and regeneration. In conjunction with the breathing exercise, this serves to make you less “manic” and better grounded.

Do all exercises with cold exposure gradually and willfully! Never do the breathing sequence in the water!

  1. If needed, warm yourself up with breathing or exercising
  2. Focus on a source of warmth within you.
  3. Begin with cold showers or even moderate showers, from the extremities up to belly, chest and head.
  4. Always end warm showers with turning the tap to cold!
  5. Lengthen the time of cold exposure until you reach several minutes.
  6. Try “really cold” temperatures such as a mountain stream, a pool with ice added, or a wintery lake…

Commit yourself!

You do that already when trying out and challenging yourself with these experiences. To reap the benefits, you want to create new habits! Remember the SMART milestones to reach your goals? Use them!

Conclusion

The WHM is a biological “pattern interrupt” and a convincer. The breathing sequence is not a breath training to adopt throughout your whole day in order to optimize oxygenation, but a conscious switch to the sympathetic (energized) state while staying mindful and relaxed. It is essential, in order to enhance resilience, to make use of accessing these energetic resources for to challenge yourself out of your comfort zone!

The WHM may not be suitable for everyone. Try it yourself – if you feel excited by your response, explore it further! People who suffered from asthma, COPD, addiction, depression, arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme disease and other dis-eases have testified they benefit from it. (Note that these diseases are basically connected to the “social brain” with territorial and self-devaluation conflicts in the background!)

If you feel overwhelmed, feel free to experiment with parts of it. If you feel it’s not your style, great! The META-Health methodology will lead you to discover what’s better for you at this point.

 

* “Postmortal Constellation”: when two conflict themes – “loss of love” and “loss of territory” – have shaped one’s personality to be interested in death or things beyond death. This may involve fearless dedication to a higher goal, but also manic, depressive, or suicidal behaviour.


Sources:
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_fqcruPL30
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H__Z_8RIPtA
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24799686
[4] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053811918300673
[5] http://www.jlr.org/content/57/3/464.short
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6EPuUdIC1E

Pictures:

[1] Aad Villerius from OudBeijerland, Netherlands via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 2.0]

[2] [3] Brain pictures screenshots from the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YficBlvPwWQ

[4] Pete Linforth via Pixabay [Pixabay license]

[5] photochur via Pixabay [Pixabay license]

[6] Kora Klapp

Hormones & Qualities of Love

Oestrogen & testosterone, our sex hormones, have qualities like yin & yang, a polarity completing each other. Both are steroids stemming from the same source: the neurotransmitter pregnenolone.

Oestrogen creates the wish for mating, conception, as well as female traits to attract a partner: full hair, radiant skin, and subcutaneous fat that makes her look smooth.
Testosterone is associated with body hair, beard, less pure skin but a stronger fibrous network in the dermis, less subcutaneous fat but more muscle mass. This reflects dominance and force to replicate, which is biologically attractive to women who “weaken” or “fall” for the man and wish to be taken by him – pure biology in action that will secure survival of the kind by sharing successful genes.

Therefore, typical conflicts involving changes in production and release of these hormones, are about

  1. Survival of the family or the wish to live on through your offspring, which promotes release of testosterone in the testes by luteinizing hormone from the pituitary gland
  2. The loss of a dear person – understand this as “a part of me had to die”, leading to a decrease in hormone production connected to self-devaluation
  3. Gender identity – like a fight about or with a sexual partner, or fight within about one’s sexual role, leading to changes in hormone production depending on the chosen role and the phase of the conflict.

Case example: Fight for her role

A woman of 45 experiences constant bleeding/prolonged menstruation for several weeks. This happens in regeneration after the resolution of a fight about sex, or not feeling desired as a woman. Her conflict had been wishing to have one more child but not being able to convince her husband. She felt stubborn, hurt and sad, having to suppress her sexuality. Her husband however had other values now, being family father of 3 already, and fighting for work-life-balance as well as his position in society.
Regeneration trigger had been during a vacation, when the spouses talked and she realized that she didn’t need another baby to confirm her role as a woman and mother, but that sex can be for their pleasure, and they can now enjoy the freedom of new goals in their relationship.
The irregular bleeding ceased after working on herself with tapping for emotional release and belief change.

Observe: In cases where one’s self-esteem is dependant from the sexual role, menopause brings the risk to develop osteoporosis!

Connected to these basic themes, social and “territorial” competition play a major role in influencing the hormones circulating in your body by your behavioural and biological strategies.
To find a place in the community, and a suitable partner, individual talents develop and skills are prioritized that shape your personality:

  • Are you an adventurous wanderer, or a reliable family man/woman?
  • Do you like to compete and prove yourself?
  • Do you favour to create your “own little paradise”?
  • Do you leave carnal desires behind for wisdom and the love of God?

All these are related to combinations of previous conflict themes that have been present in your life, or already in your parents’ and ancestors’ lives. They can even be related to certain dis-ease patterns like coronary heart disease, stomach ulcers, or asthma.

In Dr R.G. Hamer’s concept of the “biological laws”, these constellations of territorial themes even explain mood swings and the onset of mania and depression, by imbalances and priorities in the expression of sexual hormones: manic being sign of an excess of testosterone, depression sign of a severe lack of it.

Scale dynamics

Case example: Fight for her boundaries

A woman of 50 experiences repeated fits of anger and aggression, connected to pain in her gallbladder and symptoms of indigestion. She is triggered by her husband who wants more contact, while she is very eager to establish her own territory and boundaries.
She wants to change and to expand her life, but is fearful to do real steps. She has manic episodes, followed by depression.
In the background of their behaviour, both partners experienced insecurity and abandonment already at an early age. This shaped their personal values, with very different results: while the man became more attached, the client resorted to her own territory.
Addressing the root causes both in the relationship to her husband and in her childhood, she transforms her pattern step by step, and finds more peace. Challenging her own anxiety, she takes steps leading her into new experiences of freedom, both in nature and looking for new social surroundings.

Interestingly, nutritional change towards probiotics that was expected to support gut health and mood, did not render positive results for this client.
This case is an example of the “aggressive constellation” concerning both territorial anger and identity themes.

aggressive constellation

The flavours of love

To explain these biological strategies, additional hormones come into the picture, that create variety in the way love and belonging can be felt and expressed. They modulate the mood scale, thereby creating conditions for conflict resolution or de-escalation: I am talking about oxytocin and vasopressin, two neuropeptides secreted in the hypothalamus and posterior pituitary. Both are found to increase the amygdala/emotional center’s connectivity with the anterior insula [1] – a brain region which is associated with social and territorial behaviour.

From responsibility to narcissism

Vasopressin, in the context of conflict behavior, is associated with aggression, fear, and anxiety, as well as with blood vessel constriction, and water retention in the tissue by reabsorption of primary urine in the renal collecting tubule system, as in the abandonment or “refugee” conflict. Previous social abandonment experiences have an impact on the binding site of Vasopressin in the brain, so that it either can enhance or alter dominant or submissive behavior in animals [2] [3].

These variations match the concept of territorial conflicts and conflict constellations, the scale swinging between manic or depressive mood and behavior. In humans, Vasopressin enhances the will for cooperation in risky situations [4] [1], which can be interpreted as the positive intention of group structure and collaboration created by diverse personality profiles, as we find in territorial constellations.

Vasopressin as a sex hormone is predominantly released in males during orgasm, where it has been called the “monogamy molecule” especially when combined with serotonin from the “reward centre” in the brain. It then makes a man attracted to stay with the woman he made love to. It creates family fathers out of young bucks – in case these are not under the influence of the coronary or “seductive constellation”, which is caused by conflicts about having lost both their “sexual property” and their privilege. This constellation can be seen as a coping strategy for the disappointed, through short-lived, superficial, sex-based relationships. It can also promote megalomania, fearless- and even recklessness, possibly lead to narcissism or idolism as extremes.

seductive constellation

I don’t have a client example for this, as these people usually don’t suffer so much as to consult a coach, but I am convinced most of you will know people who fit this description!
In territorial constellations, the physical symptoms can be very mitigated or not even felt at all, the more the level is shifted towards psychological expression.

From altruism to maliciousness

Oxytocin is the prompter of labours and of lactation in women. It means devotion, trust [1], and the power to transcend pain and to heal wounds. It means empathy and forgiveness. All of these virtues have been proven to be enhanced by taking a sniff of oxytocin between partners.

It is not particular to females. Released during orgasm, but also when being caressed and hugged, it promotes overall well-being, enhances wound healing and resilience. A relationship driven by oxytocin instead of jealous passion seems to be more sustainable and lasting, and give satisfactory love life to the “non-alphas” and those with diverse personalities.

But oxytocin does not match the concept of unconditional love: it was shown to enhance the emotional childhood memory in persons both with caring and with uncaring mothers, leaving the latter more anxious for support [5] and less resilient! It’s empathy builds upon a base of safety and belonging, upon a “we” that has already been established. In relation to strangers, this same hormone makes you even more suspicious, cruel and gloating! That is of course due to protective mechanisms of a community or society, and is illustrated by the well-known and often-repeated political tactic to bring people together by finding a common enemy.

Healing consciousness

To evolve out of this psychological pattern, we need to expand our identification beyond cultural or political boundaries, to where all humans and beings have a common goal – to thrive.

When we surpass scarcity, play competition with fairness, and tolerate others’ rights and preferences, we can create paradise on earth.
On an individual scale, we already use the tools of the meta-position and of raised consciousness and mindfulness. We do use the impact of oxytocin to overcome pain and to heal wounds by recalling resourceful memories and painting future visions in harmonic colours and sounds. Now, we can even dissolve and reimprint previously experienced trauma in our body and mind!

A motivational and inspirational quote I like to share is

“Change I to We, and even Illness becomes Wellness.”

References:
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3251702/
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2880169/
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2292122/
[4] http://www.pnas.org/content/113/8/2051
[5] http://www.pnas.org/content/107/50/21371

pictures: Pixabay, metahealth4u.com

An original article from the blog META-Evolution – now at PermaHealth< /small>

Personality sits in the Gut!

The roles gut microbes play in health, disease and strategies

Microorganisms are fascinating components in life on earth. Many functions that used to be attributed to bigger life forms or their organs, are actually performed by microorganisms that have adjusted to a specialized niche, and effectively have become part of that life form.

PflanzenkläranlageWhen we observe the water-cleansing properties of a natural or constructed wetland, the filtration happens in the root system of the plants, while the processing of the filtrated substances is done by the microbes attached to the fine roots, and supplying them with nutrients. We talk of symbiosis, but it really is an integrated part of the plant’s organism. This is easier to understand when we perceive even individual beings as ecosystems – intelligent collaborations with buffering systems and multiple methods of self-organization.

You and me are ecosystems

Apart from all the singular cells belonging to our body e. g. in our blood, even our organs consist of merged cell communities which create specialized microclimates in accord with the required function.
Stem cells prove the capability of diversification inside the organism. The functions of our living bodies enclose our microbes which exceed the number of the “true” body cells by a centuple: in and on each of us live 2000 different kinds of bacteria, that represent 1-3% of our body weight. These kinds are functional and both ethnically and environmentally specific – this is why we can draw conclusions about the migration of peoples by microbial analyses. [1]

Ethnically or individually – research has proved a connection between our microbiome and our mood and behaviour:
Studies with mice illustrate how the population with specific strains of microbes in the gut, compared to their absence, leads to behavioural changes.

Normally, mice show a certain caution and preference of protected spaces for dwelling. In the experiment, they were put into a maze with partly closed, partly open alleys. Expectedly, the control group of untreated mice with their typical gut microbes avoided the open alleys. A group of germ-free mice however showed much less caution and explored the maze fearlessly! [2] [3] [4]
In another study, the gut conditions of both groups were exchanged, which directly affected their behaviour. This proves that behavioural characteristics of different groups of mice are directly related to their gut microbiome. [5]
Can we really go on seeing ourselves and our personality isolated from our germs?

Our microbes – Helpers through thick and thin?

In META-Health we are aware of how comprehensively body, mind and environment are correlating. Microorganisms play a role in the processing of conflicts and traumatic experiences – not only on a physical level, but for our overall being. Microbes take part in adapting tissues to new demands, namely in helping them proliferate, or to degrade them. Many of these processes are conventionally seen as pathological. However there is internal regulation, and intervention is only needed when the process escalates under unfavourable conditions. Let’s explore what I mean by that:

The intelligent organism controls the activity of it’s microbes by dynamically adjusting the internal environment, and by the lymphatic system. It can thereby make different kinds of microbes limit each others’ populations. The psycho-biological perception and evaluation of stressors, toxins and resources is leading the individual to “catch”, tolerate, or resist the germs present in the environment, according to the biological requirements and resilience.
For example, in case that excess tissue has been built up as reinforcement during a time of stress, bacteria and fungi can help decomposing that excess after conditions have changed, and leukocytes will control and clear them.

Ever more of these intelligent interrelations are being recognized in scientific studies. Lactobacteria (Lactobacillus reuteri) for example are promoting wound-healing via a raise of oxytocin levels, according to Theofilos Poutahidis et al [6] Oxytocin is a neuropeptid hormone related to social behaviour and reproduction, that is mediated via the vagus nerve.

In another study by Theofilos Poutahidis et al [7], ingestion of Lactobacillus reuteri led to enhanced fertility by increased sperm production, testicle size, and number of Leydig cells (the main site of testosterone production). Typical ageing processes connected to testosterone reduction and inflammatory reactions, were stopped and reversed through supply with Lactobacillus reuteri. [7]

Probiotics, our microbial profile and programming

LactobacillusThe dissertation of Gabriela Sinkiewicz from Malmö University “Lactobacillus Reuteri in Health and Disease” [8] investigates the natural presence of these bacteria in human breast milk, saliva, and gut, as well as it’s influence on our health. As expected, this microbe is not naturally present in all humans: it is found in 15% of the population, more often in country- than in city dwellers. This may be due to long-termed nutritional habits. While regular intake of Lactobacillus Reuteri in the study showed positive effects on (present) gingivitis, a long-termed change in mouth and gut microbiome of the subjected group was not detected. [8]

Obviously, assimilation of the respective bacteria depends on their presence in the subjects’ environment, as well as on his receptiveness! The latter depends on factors of familiarity and accustoming (aka eating habits), and on above discussed needs regarding autonomous processes of self-maintenance.

CFS, microbes and anxiety

Studies showed that the gut microbes of CFS patients usually are low in bifido bacteria, and that this condition could actually be regenerated after intake of colony-building lacto- and bifidobacteria over 2 month. Simultaneously, anxiety reactions decreased significantly during that time. [9]
These findings indicate that in CFS and anxiety reaction patterns, the body seems to be receptive for named bacteria as far as they are offered.
These are typical symptoms of which minimum 4 must be present in a CFS diagnosis:

  • Restricted short-term memory or focusing skills
  • Sore throat
  • Sensitive cervical and axillary lymph nodes
  • Muscle aches
  • Pain without inflammatory signs in multiple joints
  • Headache of a new type or severity
  • No sufficient recovery by sleep
  • Worsening of the condition for more that 24 hours after efforts

These symptoms seem without exception to be parts of impaired and prolonged regeneration phases. Regeneration asks for high-quality nutrients to be broken down by the gut bacteria. Therefore, the organism in question is receptive for appropriate bacteria when they are accessible. As a novel intervention, even fecal transplants become popular in the therapy of both bowel disease and anxiety.[10]

The association of CFS with anxiety may be a key to the repeating pattern: one possible scenario could be recurring self-devaluation e. g. inside the job environment, which affect joints and muscles. In daily life these are resolved or compensated, but fear about losing the job, or stress in the family environment do not allow the subject to regenerate properly.
These patterns may probably be improved by an optimized diet that includes lacto- and bifidobacteria..

Meaningful strategies in MS?

On the other hand, scientists were astonished that a healthy gut microbiome seems to contribute to diseases like multiple sclerosis [11]. The META-Health perspective that disease as well as microbial activity generally play roles in biologically meaningful processes controlled by the body itself, offers an explanation: so called autoimmune diseases are recurring conflict patterns that include strategies to warn and protect the individual against potential threats.
The programming of the brain (and genetic change accordingly) prompts this strategy and uses the functional equipment – the microbiome – to mediate the signals. The resolution for concerned persons would here be re-programming on brain level – as we do by hypnotic techniques or root-cause transformations as regression and re-imprinting – thereby enhancing resilience.

Communication of mind, brain and organ

How and when does the population with our specific microbial fingerprint take place, and what implications does this have for our internal resources and resilience? Investigation of melolontha (may bug) guts in (sterile) larvae and the adult state indicate, that part of the microbiome is present already in the early state [12].
Remaining population happens mainly during and after birth [13]. The Central Nervous System and the neuroendocrine system develop simultaneously with the microbiome, and they are sensitive to distress [14]. The vagus nerve has been identified as communication path of the gut-brain axis in both ways [15]. These findings confirm the relationship of imprinting experiences, microbes and organ functioning that we refer to in META-Health, based on that the Autonomic Nervous System is mediating between these.

Distressful experiences and conflict patterns of the mother during pregnancy and birth influence this relationship, as do early childhood experiences and long-termed social environment. They create a background of resilience or sensitivity for conflicts later in life.
By appropriate and wanted intervention spanning nutritional, psychological and neuro-endocrino-immunological levels, these imprinted patterns can be corrected and completed, thereby equipping the subject for better health.

Summary

Emotional and behavioural patterns, as well as resilience, are related to our individual microbiome. The basic equipment is provided prenatally by the mother’s body, after birth it is added to by breast milk and primary contact to the environment during the imprinting stage of brain, nervous system and gut function. At later stages, habit change over longer time periods is required to naturally change this part of our personality. Consequent intake of probiotics can be used purposefully to support gut functioning and to reduce stress and anxiety reactions via the gut-vagus-brain axis, together with interventions targeting imprinted trauma.

sources:
[1] http://www.scinexx.de/dossier-563-1.html
[2] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001650851100607X
[3] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2982.2010.01620.x/full
[4] http://www.chirurgie-portal.de/news/20121112-darmbakterien-einfluss-gehirnfunktion.html
[5] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001650851100607X
[6] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3813596/
[7] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879365/
[8] http://dspace.mah.se/bitstream/handle/2043/10570/GS_dissertation.pdf?sequence=2
[9] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664325/
[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4977816/
[11] http://www.mpg.de/4613890/darmbakterien_loesen_multiple_sklerose_aus
[12] http://www.ice.mpg.de/ext/fileadmin/extranet/common/documents/PULS-CE/Newsletter21_de.pdf
[13] http://www.nature.com/nrgastro/journal/v9/n10/full/nrgastro.2012.165.html
[14] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.2004.063388/full
[15] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3179073/

pictures:
Kora Klapp, pixabay, Jens Buurgaard Nielsen, Janice Carr

New research supports holobiont concept

by Kora Klapp

The META-Health and Permaculture concept of symbiosis into creation of an organism on micro- as on macro-levels is now being supported by the conclusion of new scientific research.

Kiel University investigated how our microbiome development is controlled by the nervous system:
Hydra www.mikrofoto.de
During the development of the nervous system of a hydra from egg stage to a fully-grown organism, it’s microbiome changes drastically in only 3 weeks, until it finally stabilizes in composition and local variations. From that, the researchers deduct original and universally valid principles of the nerve system’s functioning: the nerve cells produce neuropeptides (messengers consisting of amino acids) that suppress or allow the population by certain strains of bacteria. [1]

“Up to now, neuronal factors that influence the body’s bacterial colonisation were largely unknown. We have been able to prove that the nervous system plays an important regulatory role here,” emphasises Professor Thomas Bosch, evolutionary developmental biologist and spokesperson of the Collaborative Research Centre 1182 “Origin and Function of Metaorganisms,” funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG).

The current article in Science Daily describes the findings.

In our organisms, the steering system communicates with information carriers and executive organs, organelles and microbes, and this communication and symbiosis is introduced during early stages of development!

Integrated in this orchestra are bacteria and virus, which not only create our individual and social microbial fingerprint, but can change by our reaction to the environment [2]. Thus, differentiations between separate life forms and those belonging to the body appear arbitrary – the mitochondria, power plants inside each of our cells performing cell respiration by transforming and regenerating energy in form of ATP, are originally imported bacteria! They possess own genetic information, and are separated from the cell plasma by a double membrane which needs different “nano-machines” for to import the necessary proteins. The collaboration of mitochondrial and nuclear genes for the sake of proteine biosynthesis is fine tuned. The understanding regarding origin and development of the mitochondria has also been updated by current research at Freiburg University:

The mitochondria derived from a simple bacteria that was assimilated by a bigger cell some 2 billion years ago, and which then transformed into a cell compartement – separate reaction chambers.
Central requirement for the creation of mitochondria and for the evolution of complex cells was the development of an efficient transport machinery. Until now the assumption was that this machinery, once invented, merely underwent minor adaptations to the conditions of the respective organism.
New data shows that although the nanomachines for protein import consist of about 15 different proteins in both trypanosomes and humans, their construction lacks similarity.

This illustrates that the system, except for 3 main components, was invented anew! The findings suggest that the first complex cell possessed only a simple import system, from which a highly developed nano-machine derived by a protracted process. Today’s efficient import systems consisting of several modules have developed later than previously believed, after a first speciation of complex cells had already occurred.. [3]

That means that the integration of the oxygen-transforming bacteria into the animal body was a specific and attuned intelligent evolutionary step.

Just as intelligent is the synergy of microbes and bearers of information, the virus and their partners in our lymphatic system. I like to avoid the term “immune system”, as it is associated with “good and bad”, thereby being all too simplistic and misleading.
The “biological black matter” defined as virus or similar to virus stabilizes the gut microbiome and the resilience of the community. These phages control the bacteria population and communicate in their turn with the body’s lymphatic cells, sharing protein information and mediating tolerance or strategies in the individual as well as the social systems[4].

Contact with naturally present microbes increases even mental and psychological health.
The mycobacterium vaccae for example, which thrives in cow dung and garden soil, has effect on the limbic system, the emotional centre of the brain. By releasing the transmitter serotonin, it creates happy feelings and reduces anxiety [5],[6] . Dr Chris Lowry from Bristol University announces after his experiment with mice:

“These studies help us understand how the body communicates with the brain and why a healthy immune system is important for maintaining mental health. They also leave us wondering if we shouldn’t all be spending more time playing in the dirt.”

Read about the study here.

Dorothy Matthews from Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, deducted from her studies:

“We found that mice that were fed live M. vaccae navigated the maze twice as fast and with less demonstrated anxiety behaviors as control mice” “This research suggests that M. vaccae may play a role in anxiety and learning in mammals” “It is interesting to speculate that creating learning environments in schools that include time in the outdoors where M. vaccae is present may decrease anxiety and improve the ability to learn new tasks.”

Lymphocyte
The symptoms of anxiety and depression affect also our lymphatic cells. T-lymphocytes responsible for learned immune modulation show increased spontaneous apoptosis (self-induced cell death) in depressive patients, as well as under chronic stress, while immune activations and inflammation appear simultaneously. In this context, tryptophane, a precursor to the happiness hormone serotonin and the sleep-regulating melatonin, plays a key role: tryptophane, which stimulates the composition of T-Lymphocytes, is degraded in inflammatory reactions. Even cognitive functions and learning capacity are decreased when T-cells are reduced and unfunctional.[7].

These findings support our META-Health view of the lymphatic system as a function of identity and self-definition, and the area of conflict between safety by avoidance or limitation, and strength by confrontation:
The key to resilience and a happy life is being part of an ecosystem, exchange with the environment and tolerance of variations. Sense of community makes strong. This could now even be demonstrated on the cellular level.

sources:
[1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170926105425.htm
[2] https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-016-0212-z
[3] http://www.pr.uni-freiburg.de/pm/2016/pm.2016-12-19.171
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4566309/
[5] Lowry CA, et al., Identification of an immune-responsive mesolimbocortical serotonergic system: Potential role in regulation of emotional behavior, Neuroscience (2007)
[6] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635713000296
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2787959/

Bilder (wikimedia): www.mikro-foto.de Frank Fox, NCI Dr Triche

Improve Posture and Performance with your Mind!

Improve Posture and Performance with your Mind

Affections of the musculoskeletal system often don’t seem easy to deal with. They can include intense pain leading to progressive weakness and cutbacks in your life quality.

META-Health understanding of the components of the locomotor system, their specific functions and metaphorical meanings, and when to expect and control what sort of pain, shines a light on the thought patterns and emotions that make the difference whether to drown or to be relieved, and the secret of success!

This is a talk delivered on the International META-Health Conference in Mumbai, february 2017.

Freeze or Super Powers?

META-Health uses cutting-edge scientific findings and models to explore and explain stress-related diseases and various symptoms in their social-emotional context.

A base for this is the model of the 5 biological laws of nature which describes the dynamic process of self-healing after stress and trauma: the intelligent body adapts temporarily to exceptional needs – a necessary reaction that leads to be counterbalanced in the regeneration phase after the threat is gone.

This “Yin-Yang model” of polarity is enriched by the findings of neuroscience which I presented on the International META-Health Conference in Mumbai, february 2017. Stephen Porges´ Polyvagal theory explains the happenings in the UDIN moment (Unexpected, Dramatic, Isolating, No strategy) and highlights the social advantage of mammals which we can consciously use to find better conflict strategies and to dissolve trauma.

Accidents – without any meaning?

accident

accidentObviously, I’m a bit of an „accident-person“ myself, meaning that I lived through several of them – which mercifully all had a happy ending 🙂

So I feel quite competent in observing the onset and the outcome of unexpected physical trauma, and today I allow myself to look into the often-heard question: how does META-Health look upon accidents?

There are accidents with a prelude,

meaning that they were preceded by a conflict program that made them possible in the first place.
To these belong most tendon- and ligament ruptures. As these structures are very strong but also embedded, they are only prone to tear when they already are weakened. This happens in long or habitual stress phases of self-doubt and self-devaluation concerning the task the affected structure has to fulfill. This is easily traced and understood in athletes who identify strongly with their abilities to run, jump or dribble.

Accidents can be provoked by a behaviour

…based upon conflict strategies and life habits:

1. „Mania“ and recklessness are examples where danger signals are ignored or not even perceived. Looking deeper, we find two or more unresolved social conflicts in the background of aggression (in the case of challenged position and identity) or desperation (in case of lost position and love), or to light-headedness and absence (in the case of lost roots and flight to other levels of experience).

2. „Megalomania“ or sophomoric behaviour is meant to help us overcome multiple self-doubts and self-devaluations, so we are confident and daring – sometimes too daring!

3. Reduced sensory and emotional processing, like under pain medication, is also found in the so-called „Cerebellum constellation“ initiated by the feeling of vulnerability in multiple incidents. In this case we did not perceive the signals that might have prevented the accident.

4. Nonchalating security for another value can happen in so-called „chunk conflicts“, when we need to get, to incorporate, or to get rid of something: a basic survival issue that makes us focus so much that we lose overview.

Breaking up a pattern

The accident itself is always a UDIN moment and a condensed stress phase on the physical level, naturally followed by a regeneration phase.

But in the behavioural strategies above mentioned, it also seems to be a resolution – an immediate, forced interruption of the conflict pattern or constellation. This can more often than not be recognized as a blessing in hindsight:
the own identity and values are reviewed and, hopefully, updated by the experience that the former strategy is no longer working, nor is it needed.

Idealistically, this also happens in the „prelude-accidents“ named above, and this resolution opens the way to stabilization and strengthening of tissue and psyche.

Like my own pelvis fracture and hospital stay some 25 years ago (having had a severe fall mountain-climbing, just on New Year’s eve) freed me from certain fears and manic unease connected to an addiction to motion and exercise. At the same time, this episode led to new life choices!

What is the potential?

Not all accidents fit into these categories and are educed by the affected person. Or are they? Sometimes we can’t see correlations, no cause and meaning. To elicit the essence, we need to consider the future, or change our focus: what potential is there in what happened to us? What reward lies in railing against our fate?

Even the discoverer oft he „biological laws of nature“, Dr Hamer, would never have passed his genius concept on to the world, had not the lethal accident of his beloved son Dirk spurred him to dig deeper into the specific correlations of disease and trauma. To this father, merging vision with research was therapy. To the world, it is a gift and building blocks for holistic medicine.

Children’s accidents often relate to their parents! Just recently, I chatted with a friend to learn that her son had broken his ankle, which really stopped the family in their tracks and made them shift down, a pace they never seemed to be able to reach before. Now they, helpingly, find their peace with a new approach to family life.

We have the alternatives to either overcome, create meaning, and grow from adversities, or to perish. The thought might seem darwinistic, but no! My message is: observing accidents and their results leads us out of our self-centeredness, become helpers, healers, or an inspiration to others. Community bears us, we bear the community. Tragedies may become blessings, even stimulate evolution!

This reminds me of a very inspirational story about baboons by neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky:

longer version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4UMyTnlaMY

Learn more about META-Health: www.metahealth4u.com

photo: Marco Verch

Informed choices and that gut feeling

Angelina JolieThe media and discussions these days are filled with the preventive double mastectomy of Angelina Jolie. Comments range from acclaim for her courage and consistency, shock about voluntary self-mutilation with dubious sense, up to the representation of the famous actress as a pawn and figurehead for corporations who make money on such measures.

In her own opinion, published in the New York Times [1], she describes the reasons for her decision: her mother had died after 10 years of battle with breast cancer at age 56 – therefore Jolie let her genes be tested, whereby mutation of the “breast cancer gene” BRCA1 was detected. Her physicians estimated her risk of developing breast cancer at 87%.

“When I knew that this is my reality, I have decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much as possible.”

After having described the three-month procedure of the stepwise intervention with gentle removal and reconstruction of the breasts, she reveals the motivation for her openness:

“I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices.

I acknowledge that there are many wonderful holistic doctors working on alternatives to surgery.“

Fear and reality

I do respect Angelina Jolie fully in her decision to meet her reality of a “sword of Damocles” in a way that takes the fear off her and her children. For me and my clients, I also want to achieve to not make decisions led by fear, but by the certainty of finding peace, inner balance and strength in them. In my opinion, good therapists are characterized by supporting their clients on the basis of their own personality and choice, and also by referring on to appropriate specialists if needed.

Fears are there to motivate us to move away from the threat. Fears are produced by a brain area that is not rationally questioned – the so-called reptilian brain, which takes care of the basic needs of survival, predominating everything else. So far about the biological background of this early warning system.

When we look at what gives people fear, it’s not just obvious dangers and threats. Symbols of previously experienced powerlessness which can be memories or even heard or read stories, can make us see inner pictures of horrors. Do all these symbols represent a generally valid background of real threat? No – because fairy tales and fantasy films can cause the same anxiety reactions. This may even be used intentionally to influence the public – or to educate children …

Fear can as well be caused by a distorted view. This is particularly obvious in so called “anxiety disorders” and phobias, where harmless things in the everyday environment for some individuals have become symbols of fear, affecting their whole lives and social contacts . It seems legitimate and reasonable to treat such “overanxiety” in order to change it. Fear is therefore not to be seen digital as “all or nothing”, but the feeling should ideally match the current context.

Often, a scenario of fear changes with extended experience and understanding. A new environment, lack of overview, unusual challenges that trigger stress and anxiety, after a while lose their signal effect on our alerting system. This happens even in the case of real dangers! Examples are measures of occupational safety, which may be nonchalated by highly experienced workers more often than by unexperienced ones, leading to accidents. Even more persistent threats, disasters such as the nuclear accident in Fukushima, no longer seem to persist in our consciousness after a time of fear and turmoil. Anxiety decreases to the extent of one´s emotional gaining of control, getting distance, or where it recedes into the background

The fear of cancer

The concept of cancer and the associated ideas of sickness and death means anxiety for the majority of today´s people. This fear is produced by horrific images that come not only from their own memory of a deceased relative or friend, but also from the media portraying heroic cancer-fighting medics and patients. Many of the horrendous symptoms you see, however, are stemming rather from the therapy than from the cancer itself.

Medical science admits that it is not aware of the causes of many diseases, including all cancer processes. Thus the survival rate five years after completion of treatment is no valid evidence of healing, but a arbitrarily drawn line for statistic documentation . The fear of recurrence or metastasis remains. And – without ethical evaluation from my side – a growing sector of the pharmaceutical and medical technology benefits from lifelong screening and treating the collateral damage of the cancer treatment.

Even cancer is a strategy

In the understanding of META-Health the processes that, only if they occur very violently, during a long time, or under suboptimum conditions, develop into pathological cancers, have a function for us. They are started under very specific conditions with a biological conflict shock, an isolating trauma. In natural conditions, which unfortunately have become rather uncommon in today´s societies, the physiological responses were meant to help just to solve this problem in a timely manner.

META-Health symptom analysisIn the case of cancer in the breast glands (there are different types of breast cancer that would address other traumatic perceptions), a big concern or dispute triggers a response to produce more milk for protection and nourishment .
Only when a woman has experienced such feelings traumatically, she will get this type of cancer, and if the reason for this response is resolved, the body will autonomously restore the normal function, stop the growth and dissolve or encapsule the tumor cells.

The mechanisms of autonomous cancer reduction by inflammation and apoptosis are known [2]. This occurs under conditions that are “back to normal”, ie according to an internal “all-clear” conflict resolution.

This means that every person can have cancer cells in their body, without incurring a pathological cancer, as long as she finds the means to discharge her emotions that froze in the instant, and to resolve her conflict soon. The fact of having and handling cancer processes resembles even genes being switched on or off by perceptional triggering or by inhibition.

A Danish study from 2008 [3] confirms that mammographical screening, because of overdiagnosis and overtreatment, leads to no more cancer survivors, but to more women being labeled as ill.

What do genes express?

Genes are blueprints for characteristics both physiological and psychological that are passed on from ancestors to descendants. Just as in early childhood learning where you cut your teeth on certain behavioral strategies that stay with you as more or less unconscious patterns running “on autopilot”, providing you with a proven strategy as basis for survival and handling challenges. But do all of them remain throughout your life? In the course of your life many of those will be outgrown and replaced by behaviors that now seem more appropriate , because the environment has changed and you have learned through own new experiences.

This is similar to genes being turned on and off through mechanisms that are explored in the science of epigenetics. Trigger for switching off a gene segment are environmental stimuli and our bodymind´s evaluation whether to use old or to add new information to the system [4] [5].

Own experienced traumas are stored in epigenetic “cellular memory” and through them being healed, our patterns of reacting change right down to the cellular level!

Die epigenetische Landschaft und ihre Bedeutung für direktes Reprogrammieren

Namely cell biologist Dr Bruce Lipton clarifies in his book “The biology of belief“, how the intelligent control center of our cells is not the nucleus with the genetic information, but the cell membrane which absorbs or rejects molecules of information. The decision to accept or reject information, to activate a gene or shut it down, is prompted by our ATTITUDE. The same that leads to our perception of reality.

In my article on the placebo-surgery I have examined the power of belief and imagination. This alone only lets the body autonomously carry out cleaning and healing processes which were previously thought to make technical interventions necessary.

Your own reality

What would be possible in the context of your beliefs, your thinking and evaluating? How can you break away from fears and catastrophic ideas that activate genes such as BRCA1, and replace them with better strategies that will turn off the BRCA1 as *unnecessary response*?

Here the placebo and nocebo effects come in. Logic and pseudo-logic influence the reinforcement or the re-evaluation of those personal experiences which create our perceived reality and future. The power of information that passes our filters unquestioned. Nocebo is the negative sister of placebo, this means, for example, the hypnosis limiting our reality potential by constantly recurring (scaring) views in media and environment. The judgment of a physician weighs heavier than one´s own hope and often even heavier than one´s own feelings – if you have no access to your own inner wisdom or if you do not trust it.

How is it that just people in auxiliary medical professions (those with insight into, but some distance from the traditional medical health system) often start to question the knowledge and skills of physicians in certain areas , and thus to doubt the validity of their conclusions? It is by the experience that even doctors are not medically omniscient and sometimes pass on insufficient information to their patients, which can be supplemented or corrected by a holistic therapist with good client rapport trained to see the overall picture as well as the personality and needs of the individual.

To consciously create a reality, we need more than just understanding, because the knowledge of the head, the wisdom of the heart and the gut feeling must be in line. One needs the Aha!-experience that makes your insight valid at all levels, all conscious and unconscious areas of the brain and the cells of your body.

What comprehensible explanations are there for holding on to concepts whose general validity is already refuted??

  • Tradition of the old concept in one´s own beliefs and linked to one´s own identification
  • the feeling of dependence on the community sharing the belief in the old concept, and linked to that:
  • the feeling of dependence on workplace and supply
  • cognitive overload and unwillingness to ponder alternative concepts in depth
  • the projection of one´s own feelings and values ​​to others, deriving invalid general conclusions
  • the feeling of loss of control through a paradigm shift
  • relief of one´s own responsibility by following the mainstream.
  • avoiding emotionally charged topics
  • linking the issue with guilt

All these reasons are produced in the reptile brain, are deeply rooted and emotional. Therefore, the contributions in discussions about alternative views of medicine, disease and prevention are often characterized by very emotional posts and attacks. Of course, this does not do justice to the meaning of science and research. Ideally, scientists would be free of the factors above – which in practice is rarely the case, because even scientists have a reptile brain …
Unless something else is so much more important. Unless you had an own Aha!-experience. Science and research should be more interested in the atypical but possible, as in reproduction of the typical results in studies.

There are already cancers healed without surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. What Angelina Jolie mentioned as “In progress”, is reality today for more and more people. Even with advanced cancer processes, the chance of recovery without traditional treatment but supporting the natural selfhealing powers of the bodymind has been proven in countless cases [6]. Examples of this support are:

  • acid-base balance through nutrition [7]
  • cannabinoids [8]
  • addressing the psycho-biological background of carcinogenesis
  • consistent change of life towards the true desires and goals

And prevention? With the understanding of META-Health, the attention and the confidence in the wisdom and consistency of one´s own organism, prevention of trauma is hardly possible, nor would it be necessary. We do not need to prevent basically meaningful processes. However, you will take care of optimizing the rhythms and processes by optimal supply and disposal. This concerns the supply of nutrients just as the supply of solution-oriented information and the disposal and release of wastes as well as outdated scenarios and emotions.

If Angelina Jolie can not adopt this view, her choice of preventive mastectomy is consistent. She does not plan to breastfeed children any more. But what about women who still want to give birth? Wouldn´t they, without information about the above options, be unnecessarily led into a one-way street?

To deal with one´s fears, there are no generally right and wrong ways, just individually coherent ones..

Choose the one that strengthens YOU!

Kora

PS: Find the original article in German here

Sources:
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opinion/my-medical-choice.html?hp&_r=2&
[2] http://scienceblogs.de/bloodnacid/2012/09/03/basics-apoptose-oder-der-programmierte-zelltod/
[3] http://www.cochrane.dk/screening/mammografi-de.pdf
[4] http://www.peter-spork.de/87-0-Schutz-aus-dem-Erbgut.html
[5] http://www.science-meets-society.com/wissenschaftsnews/traumatische-epigenetik/
[6] http://www.krebstherapien.de/page0/page7/index.html
[7] http://www.nam.de/onkolog.htm
[8] http://cannabisoilmediadocument.blogspot.com/2012/06/introduction-my-name-is-justin-kander.html

Images:
[1] By chris_natt (Angelina Jolie) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AJolietop2.png
[2] Walter Groesel
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/718085
[3] By Rodolfa, K.T., Inducing pluripotency (September 30, 2008), StemBook, ed. The Stem Cell Research Community, StemBook, doi/10.3824/stembook.1.22.1, http://www.stembook.org. [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_epigenetic_landscape_and_its_implications_for_direct_reprogramming..jpg