Mind-body connections are addressed in two different books by female authors.
II. Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind Over Body by Jo Marchant, PhD (2016)
Among other mind-body dynamics, science journalist Jo Marchant has an interesting take on the placebo effect. Susannah Cahalan (New York Post) has written an entire article on it; Jennifer Senior (NY Times) also focuses on it.
Did you know, for instance, that there are placebo trials involving fake surgery? Surgery! (Not with a general anesthetic. But still.) Or that large-pill placebos work better than small ones? (Which is funny if you think about it, considering they are equally inert.) Or that placebos sometimes work even when we know they’re placebos? (There is, correspondingly, a niche market for placebos online.)
And that’s just the kid stuff. There’s also evidence suggesting that placebos affect the immune system, not just the subjective experience of pain.
‘It isn’t trickery, wishful thinking or all in the mind,’ Ms. Marchant writes, when explaining the biology of the placebo effect. ‘It is a physical mechanism, as concrete as the effects of any drug.’ What we are swallowing with any pill is essentially an idea: That we will feel better. This belief alone is often enough to trigger the release of our body’s natural endorphins, or dopamine, or whatever other chemical our body was expecting to make or consume if we’d taken an actual drug.
And Senior draws an apt conclusion on which our collective gut instincts can probably agree: “If there is one lesson to be drawn from ‘Cure,’ it is this: For the ailing, there is no substitute for face time with someone who cares about your fate. Is Western medicine conducive to such radical intimacy? No. Doctors are forever rushed, harried, swamped. But considering that tenderness costs us nothing, it may be the easiest fix we’ve got.”
II. How the Body Knows Its Mind: The Surprising Power of the Physical Environment to Influence How You Think and Feel by Sian Beilock (2015)
From the publisher’s description of How the Body Knows Its Mind: “Beilock’s findings are as varied as they are surprising. For example, pacing around the room can enhance creativity; gesturing during a speech can help ensure that you don’t draw a blank; kids learn better when their bodies are part of the learning process; walking in nature boosts concentration skills; Botox users experience less depression; and much more.”
Per Kirkus Reviews, another example: “…the fad of laughter clubs, where the evening starts with forced laughter that then becomes ‘spontaneous and contagious.’ Forcing a smile or a laugh can actually help to change mood—’our body has a direct line to our mind, telling us how to feel.'”
Because this mind-body connection starts immediately in our lives, Beilock emphasizes that children should be provided more opportunities for movement. And movement isn’t just for kids—it helps adults too.
Some of her suggestions for improving the body-mind connection, taken verbatim:
- Take active breaks from work or vexing problems to give your brain a chance to regroup and reboot…
- Your body’s posture and expressions are not just reflections of your mind—they can influence your mood…
- Practice in the real conditions under which you will have to perform—whether it’s public speaking, a test or an important match…
- Write it out. Journaling can help you deal with the stress of a test or your worries in daily life…
- Spend time in nature as often as you can, and find time to meditate…
Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery: “I would recommend this book to anybody who has a mind and a body.”
