Human emotion and behavior are deeply rooted in biology. Emotions such as anxiety, alienation, hopelessness, love, serenity, and optimism are not just feelings, they are physiological states which affect health just as obesity or physical fitness can affect health. Emotions are linked to medical conditions via a neurological pathway. The effect of emotions and diet is an important link in the prescription for well-being of the body and its brain.
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High tech CT scanning conducted by the University of Utah shows that hostility and stress in individuals has been linked to tiny calcium deposits in the coronary arteries. The higher the degree of stress, the more severe this silent form atherosclerosis tended to be. Studies have also confirmed that social isolation, depression and poor marital relations contribute to heart disease. Patients who are depressed at the time of bypass surgery are more than twice as likely to die in the next five years as patients without clinical depression. In a major study published in the Lancet in 2004, researchers surveyed more than 11,000 heart attack sufferers from 52 countries and found that in the year before their heart attacks, the patients had been under significantly more stress and depression. The risk degree of stress was concluded to be comparable to risk factors of hypertension and abdominal obesity, a degree far greater than what would have been previously imagined. Psychological traits could affect blood vessel function via several pathways. Anger, hostility and depression combined with unhealthy fats, smoking and a lack of exercise affect the nervous system which in turn controls blood vessel function.
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Relaxation is only one way to treat stress and its negative effects on health. Regular exercise can strengthen the mind, mood and body. Regular exercise is essential for weight loss, improving heart disease and diabetes risk factors, as well as other metabolic diseases. Exercise not only improves the body’s circulation and oxygen delivery throughout the body, but it alters a wide variety of chemical changes in the brain. The major effect is to boost the activity of mood enhancing neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin. Exercise also triggers the release of endorphins, which are responsible for relaxation and “feeling good.”
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Health, hygiene and nutrition are a vital component in maintaining stable mental and emotional health. This all helps your brain to function properly as it governs the physical body. Now that we are comfortable with the systems of the Human Body and its governance by our mind, we have to learn healthy habits that will keep them all running smoothly. Because the brain is the main controller of our body, Nutrition and the brain is essential so that you can have a balance of physical, mental, and emotional health which are indeed connected. Nutrition and exercise keep your brain healthy which then improves emotional and physical health.
