Alternative Medicine Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alternative Medicine, including details on complementary medicine, alternative therapies, homeopathy.

Mind-body medicine: stress and its impact on overall health and longevity.

Vitetta L, Anton B, Cortizo F, Sali A

Centre for Molecular Biology and Medicine, Epworth Medical Centre, 185-187 Hoddle St. Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3121. lvitetta@cmbm.com.au

The belief that adverse life stressors and the emotional states that can lead to major negative impacts on an individual's body functions and hence health has been held since antiquity. Adverse health outcomes such as coronary heart disease, gastrointestinal distress, and cancer have been linked to unresolved lifestyle stresses that can be expressed as a negative impact on human survival and ultimately a decrease of the human life span. Psychological modulation of immune function is now a well-established phenomenon, with much of the relevant literature published within the last 50 years. Psychoneuroimmunology and psychoneuroendocrinology embrace the scientific evidence of research of the mind with that of endocrinology, neurology and immunology, whereby the brain and body communicate with each other in a multidirectional flow of information that consists of hormones, neurotransmitters/neuropeptides, and cytokines. Advances in mind-body medicine research together with healthy nutrition and lifestyle choices can have a significant impact on health maintenance and disease prevention and hence the prolongation of the human life span.

Published 9 January 2006 in Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1057: 492-505.
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