Experimental studies have shown that green tea components and theanine prevent influenza infection, while clinical evidence remains inconclusive.  Researchers at the University of Shizoka in Japan undertook a study to ascertain if green tea catechins and theanine could prevent the flu and human spirit.

Led byKeiji Matsumoto, PhD, of the Department of drug evaluation and informatics, the researchers conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 200 health care workers for five months from November 2009 through April 2010 in three health care facilities for senior citizens.  The group that received green tea and the inane capsules and the control group received a placebo.

The primary outcome was the incidence of clinically defined flu infection.  Secondary outcomes were laboratory-confirmed influenza measured viral antigen and the time for which the patient was free from defined influence and affection, meaning the period between the start of the intervention.  In the first diagnosis of influenza infection, based on clinically defined influenza infection.

The researchers reported that eligible health care workers were enrolled in randomly assigned to an intervention; 98 were placed in the experimental group receiving the green tea and the inane and 99 were in the placebo group.

The rate of clinically defined influenza was significantly lower in the group receiving the supplements.  Only four participants developed the flu, 4.1%, compare with 13 participants in the placebo group, 13.1%.  The incidence of influenza infection that was confirmed by laboratory tests was lower in the green tea group.  One participant in that group, compared to five in the placebo group were diagnostically confirmed, but this difference was not considered to be statistically significant.

The time from which the patient was free from clinically defined influenza infection was significantly different between the two groups.

The researchers conclude that health care workers for the elderly, benefited from taking green tea catechin and theanine because it may be an effective prophylaxis i.e., it is preventative for influenza infection.

Source: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

It seems like fear that gripped so many of us, when the 2009  H1N1 pandemic occurred  was  light years ago, but it happened a year ago.  Based on my research, and the conformation I received from other open-minded physicians, I recommended taking a deep breath to my readers and that we were going to live through this latest “pandemic,” and we did!

Now comes the long overdue news from the Director-General of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan, MD, MPH, has declared an end to the H1N1 influenza pandemic, following the advice of an emergency committee convened to address the issue.

“The new H1N1 virus has largely run its course,” she said from Hong Kong in a conference call with reporters.

Based on previous pandemics, Chan stated the virus is expected to behave like seasonal influenza viruses and continue to circulate “for some years to come.” It also will likely continue to cause serious disease in younger individuals, at least in the immediate post-pandemic period, she said.

Chan remarked that significant localized outbreaks of H1N1 were still possible, as is currently occurring in New Zealand.

Because of the continuing threat, the WHO continues to recommend immunization with both the monovalent H1N1 vaccine and the trivalent seasonal vaccine, of which the new H1N1 virus is a component.

The decision to declare an end to the pandemic was made based on several factors, according to Chan: the lack of out-of-season — or summer — outbreaks in either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, the fact that current H1N1 outbreaks are similar in intensity to those of seasonal influenza, and the increasing mix of circulating influenza viruses.

During the pandemic, H1N1 largely crowded out the seasonal viruses, accounting for nearly all tested samples. Now, Chan noted, countries are observing a mix of H1N1, H3N2, and B viruses.

An additional factor that went into the decision to end the pandemic designation is evidence of community-level immunity. Studies have indicated that 20% to 40% of the population in some areas have been infected with H1N1 and, thus, have some level of immunity.

Good vaccine coverage in some areas has also contributed to community-wide immunity, Chan added.

Keiji Fukuda, MD, special adviser to Chan on pandemic influenza, urged countries to continue surveillance and remain alert for changes in the H1N1 virus. Public health officials should maintain control efforts, especially in the countries that continue to have intense activity, he added.

Chan echoed the need for continued vigilance.

“Pandemics are unpredictable and prone to deliver surprises,” she said.

She noted that the mild nature of the pandemic was aided by good luck — the virus did not mutate into a more lethal form, widespread resistance to oseltamivir did not develop, and the vaccine was a good match with the circulating virus and had an excellent safety profile.

“Had things gone wrong in any of these areas,” Chan said, “we would be in a very different situation today”.

Source:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/SwineFlu/21603

A recent study reported in the American Journal of Journal of Clinical Nutrition confirms that  children taking vitamin D supplements taken during the winter and early spring had a lower incidence of seasonal flu and asthma attacks.

Motoyami Urashima, of Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, and colleagues to in a double blind study randomly assign a group of 6- to 15-year-old children to take vitamin D3 supplements (1,200 international units daily) or inactive placebo during a cold and flu season.

Vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol, is more readily absorbed by the body and more potent than vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol, the form often found in multivitamins.

The study began in December 2008 and ended March 2009. One hundred sixty-seven children participated.  The researchers found that  31 of 167 children taking placebo caught influenza A, the most common form of the virus, compared with only 18 of 167 taking vitamin D.

The vitamin D group was 58 percent less likely to catch influenza A, the researchers report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Vitamin D also appeared to suppress asthma attacks in children with a history of asthma. Two children taking vitamin D had asthma attacks during the study, compared to 12 children taking placebo. Urashima admitted to being a bit surprised by this finding and hopes to confirm it in a randomized trial targeting children with asthma.

Dr. Adit Ginde, of University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, told Reuters Health: “This is the first time a study has been done that rigorously shows that vitamin D supplementation can reduce a type of influenza in a dedicated clinical trial.” Ginde and colleagues published a study a year ago showing that asthmatics with lower vitamin D levels were at five times the risk for colds and flu.

In the Japanese study, vitamin D supplementation did not prevent influenza type B, which tends to appear later in the flu season than the “A” flu variety.

Ginde said there is no solid explanation for why vitamin D prevented influenza A and not influenza B. “The immune system fights different viruses in different ways. This finding needs to be explored in more detail,” Ginde said.

Based on the current study, giving kids vitamin D supplements during the winter may help reduce cases of influenza A, the researchers conclude. Urashima suggests that children could take 1,200 IU per day starting in September to prevent flu and asthma attacks during the flu season, but best for parents to check with their pediatrician first.

Source:

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/ajcn.2009.29094v1

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), sometimes called spastic colon, irritable colon, or nervous stomach, is a functional disorder of the bowel. Its symptoms include frequent bouts of abdominal pain, and associated with changes in bowel habit (either in frequency, urgency, or characteristics).  The primary cause is not clearly known, but an abnormal interaction between the gastrointestinal tract, brain, and central nervous system appear to cause the bowel to become overactive.

Also, the pain receptors in many IBS patients’ guts are extremely sensitive.  Stress and diet don’t cause IBS, but they can trigger symptoms.

Many people develop IBS after a bout of gastroenteritis, a bacterial infection in the intestinal tract, and is called post-infectious IBS.  As many as 78% of people with IBS have an overgrowth of intestinal bacteria.  

The major symptom of IBS is a change in the patient’s bowel function — usually diarrhea, constipation, or alternating between the two. Other symptoms include bloating, abdominal fullness, flatulence, nausea, and reflux (where stomach contents “back up”). Some people experience exhaustion or chest pain that is not cardiac–related. Depression is prevalent in IBS patients.

People with IBS often have a lower quality of life. IBS can affect sleep, sexual functioning, business and personal obligations, and social life. IBS is further complicated by comorbidity with other conditions, such as fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFIDS), and thyroid disease.

Surprisingly, IBS is more common than diabetes, asthma, heart disease, or hypertension. It affects between 20%-22% of Americans, 60%-65% of whom are women (Characteristics of IBS). Up to 70% of those meeting the diagnostic criteria for IBS do not seek treatment (Irritable Bowel Syndrome, 2002). Annual U.S. direct medical costs are estimated at $1.35 billion annually, with 3.5 million office visits and 2.2 million prescriptions filled.

Indirect costs, amounting to $205 million, include frequent absenteeism. One study estimated that IBS patients are absent from work or school three times more often than their non-IBS counterparts. Authors of another study concluded that 25% of those with IBS worked fewer hours, and 20% changed their work schedule because of the condition.

Early studies indicate that peppermint oil and Chinese herbal medicine warrant further study, as do Slippery elm, fenugreek, devil’s claw, tormentil and wei tong ning The results of one well-designed trial demonstrated that Chinese herbal medicine was significantly effective in improving symptoms, and quality of life.

Other non-drug  treatment approaches includes patient education, diet modification (including identification and avoidance of food triggers), and mind-body therapies.

The healthy and naturally occurring bacteria, Lactobacillus and Lactoacidophilus have been found to help the symptoms of this disorder, as documented in several research studies.

There is a strong mind-body component to IBS, and emotions have been shown to affect intestinal movement (known as gut motility), and patient perception, as illustrated in the study where hypnotically induced anger and excitement increased the motility of the colon, while happiness reduced motility.

The medical research literature supporting mind-body therapies is compelling and substantive. Biofeedback and relaxation techniques have improved symptoms and inhibited relapses.  preventing relapse. One approach (relaxation, therapy, and medication) was effective in two-thirds of patients who had not responded to medication alone.

Another combination regimen cognitive therapy, education, progressive muscle relaxation, and thermal biofeedback experienced a 50% success rate, maintained for four years. While meditation alone caused measurable improvements that were maintained 12 months later.

Recent reviews of medical research confirms hypnosis’ effectiveness. It includes relaxation, suggestion, and imagery for its effects, its positive effects may be due to changes in colorectal sensitivity and improved psychological factors. Hypnosis  has the capacity to  improve symptoms, even in severe difficult to treat cases, and in cases where psychotherapy has failed. Improvements can be sustained at long-term.

Patients using hypnosis with suggestions directed at the intestinal tract’s function the experienced significant symptom improvement. Also, a study reviewing the effect of therapeutic suggestions on audiotape and found them effective. The Houghton et al. study results showed “profound” improvement in physical symptoms (pain bloating and bowel habit). People also felt that their quality of life was better, and that they felt more in control of their situation. They lost less time at work and needed fewer doctor’s office visits than the control group.

Researchers of one review paper reported that, in 19 of 22 studies reviewed, psychotherapy was superior to medication.  In another report, patients receiving therapy improved, compared to those while patients receiving medication deteriorated. A large-scale British study of 250 patients) confirmed that hypnosis significantly improved not only symptoms, but also depression, anxiety, and quality of life.

An at-home pre-scripted hypnosis was also effective, but not as effective as one-on-one hypnosis. Both individual and group hypnosis sessions proved effective.

Also, Emotional Freedom Technique, EFT, also known as “psychological acupuncture,” a process of taping certain portions of the body for several seconds, while stating an affirmation to correct an emotional distress, has been found to effectively treat IBS.

Mind-body techniques are effective in not only reducing IBS’s physical symptoms, but also in lifting depression and/or improving quality of life.

Source:

http://www.academyforguidedimagery.com/research/medical/index.html

A  University of Michigan study, published in the March 2010 issue of Medical Care, researchers compared a set of critical factors that can affect hospital deaths: hospital occupancy, nurse staffing levels, weekend admission and seasonal influenza.

Hospital admission when beds are filled to capacity can lead more deaths.  The study found a high occupancy increases the risk of dying in the hospital by 5.6 percent.

Also, weekend admission increased the death risk by 7.5 percent and admission during widespread seasonal flu had the greatest impact by increasing the risk of death by 11.7 percent, according to the study. Having more nurses made patients safer, decreasing the risk of death by 6 percent.

Because of the size of the patients included,  166,920 adults that were admitted to 39 Michigan hospitals over three years, the researchers expanded their findings to make conclusions about  hospitals across the United States.

“The study establishes that there is indeed a connection between hospital occupancy and death rates in U.S. hospitals,” says lead author Peter L. Schilling, M.D., M.Sc., an orthopedic surgery resident at U-M Health System.

Dr. Schilling stated, “It’s important to emphasize though that this study does not identify a specific occupancy level above which patient care suffers and deaths abruptly become more common. The key occupancy level may differ for each hospital.”  

While this study is not the first to show that these factors are associated with in-hospital mortality, this study is the first to compare all four at once.

“The study further establishes each factor as a major predictor of hospital deaths but the good news is that each can be modified in some way,” says co-author Darrell A. Campbell Jr., M.D., chief of clinical affairs at the U-M Health System.

The researchers evaluated the daily occupancy of the hospitals every day for the years 2003-2006. On average, patients in the study were admitted while hospital occupancy was 73 percent of full capacity. One-third of patients were admitted on high occupancy days, at average levels of 80 percent or more.

Study patients were admitted after emergency room evaluation for pneumonia, hip fracture, gastrointestinal bleeding, heart attack, or congestive heart failure.

“Hospital occupancy changes from day to day, so patients shouldn’t try to choose a hospital based on its occupancy level,” says co-author Dr. Matthew M. Davis.  “But these kinds of study findings should prompt hospitals to look at the flow of patients and processes of their care teams during high occupancy times. Those are more challenging moments when more things can go wrong.”

What’s also unique about the U-M study is it’s the first U.S. research and evaluate the concept of “access block,” a phenomenon believed to happen when a full hospital prevents emergency room patients from accessing an inpatient hospital bed, thus prolonging wait times and delaying time-critical inpatient care.

Hospital administrators do have the ability to regulate to a large degree, a hospital’s occupancy rate.  For example, the number of elective surgeries can be altered, in terms of scheduling changes.  The authors acknowledge that limiting the profitable procedures can cost money, since they have become increasingly more important to the hospitals’ financial health in recent years.

Source:  Medical Care Vol. 48, No. 3, March 2010

Hospital admission and stay are very difficult and extremely stressful times.  In addition to being sick, distressed, and oftentimes in pain, the hospital experience is wrought with uncertainty and the sense of helplessness.   A patient is dependent upon the hospital staff for treatment, food and human contact. And being uprooted from the daily activities of one’s life is very unsettling at best. Being admitted to the hospital can be a very stressful and challenging experience. Illness can bring much disruption to the lives of patients.

Click Here to Get Well Now

Often patients don’t know what to do during the hospitalization, and are left with long intervals of time, often resulting in watching television in between hospital staff interactions, diagnostic tests and receiving visitors.

1.      Take care of your needs. Don’t overlook yourself.  This is challenging and seemingly contradictory.  If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t have much to give anyone else, especially a sick loved one or friend. Far too often, care givers overlook their own health and well-being while taking care of others. This is a very difficult and stressful time for everyone involved. If you don’t get your proper rest or eat appropriately, you’re placing yourself at risk for rapid burn out, stress and even illness.  Do not ignore your feelings and emotions, honestly allow yourself to experience them. Sometimes you’re frightened, anxious, distressed. Loneliness and fatigue occur often. All of these emotions are normal.  It is important to acknowledge them.

2.      Encourage and support their decision to get well. While many people focus on wanting to get over their illness, it is crucial to encourage your loved one to focus on what’s working. During a hospital stay, many patients tend to focus on not wanting to be sick, rather than getting well. While the difference between the two may seem subtle but it is very important. A focus on health, essentially stimulates the body to improve and to heal. An intention to get well, in very important and measurable ways helps the body.

3.      Surround  their room with positive things. First and foremost, one of the healthiest things you can do for your loved one during their hospitalization and recuperation is to turn off the news (any type, unless you just watch the weather)! Encourage them not to watch violent, depressing television programs. If possible, bring photos, blankets, small tokens from home that will help the patient to feel more comfortable. Also, encourage him/her to watch inspiring comedy and educational programs. Use the resources that are available to you via the Internet, books, CDs, DVDs, and other formats.

4.      Stay informed. With the patient’s permission, ask the treating physician pertinent questions. Write the patient’s questions down, and act as an advocate. Ask about options, second and even third opinions, if the patient isn’t comfortable with the doctor’s recommendations.  The internet has great health information resources. Use them!

5.      Help to cultivate optimism. Medical research demonstrates optimists are healthier and recover faster than pessimists. Every crisis can be viewed as an opportunity. Your encouraging words can have a tremendous impact. Help your loved one to see that their cup isn’t necessarily half empty, it’s half full. A pessimistic view can be transformed into one that is more optimistic and healthier.

6.      Help them to relax. This is a very important thing to do. Most illnesses are stress related. When your body is relaxed it has the opportunity to regenerate and heal.

7.      Encourage laughter. Laughter is one of the easiest and fastest ways to promote health. During the last 20 years researchers across the globe have identified the positive impact it has on our bodies, especially its ability to reverse the impact of stress, a key ingredient to the development of most chronic diseases.

Prior to Dr. Pennebaker’s research, Jungian scholar Dr. Ira Progoff, the creator of holistic depth psychology, developed a journaling technique. Since the program was developed over thirty years ago, more than 200 workshop leaders have been trained and certified, and more than 175,000 individuals have participated in his workshops. Dr. Progoff passed away in 1997. His son John, now the executive director of Dialogue House, says that the practice of journaling “is a very helpful technique to get a perspective on your life; where it’s been, where it’s going. It gives you insight into yourself, hobbies, career, feelings about society, and other important aspects of your life. The process is very helpful in growth, health, and increasing self-esteem. It also helps those stuck in a rut to get out of it.”

We have the capacity to define every experience, rather than allow the experience to define us.

Getting Unstuck Through Letters

Structured writing exercises aren’t for everyone. Some people prefer what Terry Vance, a psychologist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, calls “letter therapy.”

In a 1998 book Letters Home, Vance describes watching many people get “unstuck” from bad relationships or conflicts by writing letters to others in their lives. Conversations can dissolve into screaming matches or crying fits, she says, but letter writing offers safety.

Many of us grew up with a taboo on expressing deep emotional feelings and became secretive children, growing into secretive adults, masking our true feelings. “But masks harm, even deaden, the person underneath,” says Vance. “Getting healthy requires becoming visible by taking off the masks and exposing the secrets–finding out who you are by discovering what you feel and think.”

Her book shows how letter therapy can help us resolve conflicts, effect change, and recover from our relationship with our parents. Learning to communicate from the heart can help mend crippling conflicts and open up possibilities for intimacy and growth. Expressing feelings and thoughts can create change, even if the letter is never mailed. The simple act of writing a letter can help us confront our problems. Ultimately, this process yields insights that can change our lives.

Twenty years ago Dr. Vance began assigning letter writing to her psychotherapy patients as a method of addressing past psychological and physical abuses, confronting family members, revealing long-held destructive secrets, facing various difficulties in their day-to-day lives, and gaining insight into their own thinking and behavior. Vance believes the methodology of this therapy can work for anyone: composing effective and empowering letters to heal and reconstruct relationships.

She says, “In a perfect world, we might have the opportunity to be in family therapy or in a similar situation where we are encouraged to confront the truth and are supported for being authentic with the people who are most important to us.”

Most people, though, can put their feelings on paper, write a letter to parents, have a friend or spouse or sibling read the letter and give feedback, or put the letter away and reread it later with the enhanced perspective a little distance can give. Although writing letters to deal with important emotional issues is easier with the insight and support that therapy gives, writing an up-front letter does not usually necessitate being in psychotherapy. In cases of abuse, however, the guidance of a qualified therapist is essential. Letter writing can help accomplish what family therapy or couples therapy often does. It can bring the significant people together and help the writer separate his or her contribution to the problem from the parents’ or spouse’s in a way that is documented and can be gone over and over in different states of mind.

You don’t even have to send the letter. Just write to yourself in a journal.

Intimacy and Honesty with Oneself

According to Kathleen Adams, a journal therapist, “Journaling literally helps clients get to read their own minds. That process builds self-trust and self-esteem and can complement traditional conversation-based psychotherapy. It is a road map, much more than memories; the kinesthetic, felt sense, when documented, is invaluable.”

One of her clients, a holistic practitioner herself experiencing debilitating migraine headaches, sought out Kathleen’s services because she had a feeling writing would help her to get to the root of her problem.

With guided imagery, she received a picture of her headache, a visual image that prepared her for dialogue with her body. She saw the headaches in the form of a swirling, black storm cloud. In the cloud she saw the face of Yoda, the wise teacher character from Star Wars! She struggled with the notion that the headaches were a wise teacher, a benevolent messenger. Behavioral changes occurred that assuaged the emotional distress she was experiencing. During her eighth session she said, “I’m done.”

Kathleen regards journaling as a wonderful opportunity for inner growth. “I think of writing in a spiritual context. It feels to me like a mystical secret.”

“Anais Nin, a diarist who logged an estimated 150,000 pages before her death in 1977, remarked in response to Dr. Progoff’s work, “The lack of intimacy with one’s self, and consequently with others, is what created the loneliest and most alienated people in the world. Progoff ultimately proves that the process of growth in a human being, the process out of which a person emerges, is essentially an inward process.

“It is a process that leads to meaning and to your own truth–to the reality of your inner being. It is a form of meditation, of interactive prayer. I can’t imagine how my path might have evolved had I not found journaling.”

Sources: 

Pennebaker, James W. Telling Stories: The Health Benefits of Narrative
Literature and Medicine – Volume 19, Number 1, Spring 2000, pp. 3-18

Adams, Kathleen. The Write Way to Wellness  

A recent animal study found walnuts reduced the growth of prostate cancer tumors up to 40 percent.

Dr. Paul Davis, of the University of California, found that in addition to inhibiting prostate cancer development, the mice had lower levels of a protein, IGF (insulin-like growth factor) that is strongly linked to prostate cancer,

It appears that the omega-3 fatty acid rich walnuts, antioxidants, and other plant chemicals have the ability to suppress gene activity within the prostate cancer cells. 

These findings show the additional benefits of walnuts, already known to be good for the heart and brain.

The genetically programmed to get prostate cancer mice were fed for 4.5 months (18 weeks)  either a diet equivalent to a human consuming 2.4 ounces of walnuts per day, or one with an equal amount of fat from other sources.

“This study shows that when mice with prostate tumors consume an amount of walnuts that could easily be eaten by a man, tumor growth is controlled,” Davis said in a statement. “This leaves me very hopeful that it could be beneficial in patients.”

Source:  https://communities.acs.org/blogs/acsinthenews/2010/03/23/acs-in-the-news–special-national-meeting-edition–march-23-2010;jsessionid=FCFC636C60735ED388E0D4C890341A46.node0

Many researchers and clinicians now believe that chronic, low grade inflammation plays a role in disease development.  It is thought to play a significant role in the development of disease in obese people.  Researchers in the Netherlands tested their theory that certain dietary components can reduce low-grade inflammation as well as metabolic and oxidative stress.  They found reduced inflammation in people taking a combination of anti-inflammatory nutrients.

Inflammation is a response of our immune system to infection, injury or irritation.  The area is flooded by white blood cells, heat, swelling, pain, redness and the tissue (organ’s)  abnormal functioning. It is a protective response.  But if it happens on a continuous, long term basis, it is a major contributor to the development of many chronic diseases.

When the first response stimulates the immune system, inflammation is the critical initiating step in healing wounds and warding off infection.  But, when it continues, and the immune system is active on an ongoing basis, chronic inflammation can lead to the development of chronic disease.

Dietary supplements including green tea extract, vitamin C, omega-3 fatty acids, tomato extract, and resveratrol were selected due to their known anti-inflammatory properties were combined and given as supplements to 36 healthy overweight men with mildly elevated plasma C-reactive protein concentrations in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study with treatment periods of 5 wk.  Inflammatory and oxidative stress defense markers were quantified in plasma and urine.

In a double-blinded, crossover study, the researchers gave the nutrient blend or a placebo to 36 overweight men whose mildly elevated plasma C-reactive protein levels indicated a state of inflammation. The mix included 94.5 milligrams green tea extract, omega-3 fatty acids, 90.7 milligrams alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), 125 milligrams vitamin C, 6.3 milligrams resveratrol, from fish oil, and tomato extract.

The participants received the anti-inflammatory dietary mix or placebo capsules during four 5-week periods, after which plasma and urine samples were analyzed for markers of inflammation and oxidative stress defense. In addition, 120 plasma proteins, 274 plasma metabolites and certain segments of their DNA located in white blood cells and fat tissue were evaluated.

The C-reactive protein levels (an important marker for inflammation) stayed the same, many other factors improved after 5 weeks of the anti-inflammatory dietary mix, including a 7 percent increase in an anti-inflammatory chemical released by fat cells. Changes in other measurements indicated improvements in adipose tissue inflammation, the function of cells lining arteries, oxidative stress levels, and increased liver fatty acid oxidation.

The authors wrote, “The changes in concentrations of genes, proteins, and metabolites induced by the anti-inflammatory dietary mix appeared to be consistent.”  The results showed that the anti-inflammatory dietary mix was able to influence processes of inflammation, oxidative stress, and metabolism in humans.

Source:  Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 March

I can vividly recall my first contact with a dying patient. It happened in September, 1975, during my psychiatry rotation in my second year of medical school at Duke University. I was asked to interview a depressed woman who had terminal malignant melanoma.

She was only a few years older than me.  Yet her body more closely resembled that of an elderly woman than a woman in her twenties. Her depression was palpable and filled the room. She knew she didn’t have a lot of time remaining. The thought of leaving behind her young children and husband was understandably unbearable. I was overwhelmed.

Afterwards, I left the hospital to sit for a few moments in the beautiful garden located behind it. Amidst the flowers, I let go of my sadness for her seemingly unavoidable death.  A half an hour or so later, while reporting my interview to a supervising resident, I asked, “Do you think her depression will hasten her death?” I’ll never forget his reply. “No. According to research, there are only seven existing psychosomatic diseases where emotions play a role.”

My response was complete and instinctive disagreement. I remember thinking, “You’re wrong. That’s utter hogwash.” I knew, disregarding my limited experience, that emotions played an important role in the development, course and reversal of disease–and the creation of health.

The Psychological Dimensions of Disease

Medical science now acknowledges the impact that thoughts, feelings, and moods can have not only on the development of certain diseases, but also on the course of many and on the management of probably all. Our health status is strongly influenced by mood, coping skills, and social support.

Unfortunately, the primary medical approach to treating disease is drug- and surgery-based. We ignore the psychological needs and dimensions of disease.

This crucial mismatch between the psychosocial health needs of patients and the usual medical response leads to frustration, ineffectiveness, and wasted health care resources. By helping patients manage not just their disease, but also common underlying needs for support, health outcomes can be significantly improved in an efficient and cost-saving manner.

Keeping a journal is one such solution.  During my early adolescence, I started to keep a diary. There was something very magical in placing my feelings about the events in my life in a book. The process has continued to be part of my life since that time.

About twenty years ago, I discovered in fact there is a scientific basis for expressive writing, also known as “journaling.” While attending a health conference, I heard Dr. James Pennebaker, at the time a research psychologist at Southern Methodist University, talk about the events that led him to begin research in a new area: the psychology of expressive emotion.

Dr. Pennebaker had heard an interview with a man who had recently confessed to a murder that he’d kept secret for several months. In spite of the fact that this man was facing spending the rest of his life in prison, he expressed relief. He wondered if the emotional relief translated into physiological changes. He conducted research to determine the extent to which it is healthy to express suppressed, “stored,” unprocessed and unresolved emotions through the medium of cathartic writing.

His research projects consisted of having subjects write for 15 to 20 minutes a day, for four consecutive days, about emotionally challenging topics and experiences. At the completion of the study he discovered that his subjects demonstrated significant physiological changes that correlated with mean increased immune system functioning. These positive changes remained for up to six weeks after the end of the four-day writing experiment. The participants reported fewer visits to health clinics and medical doctors for stress-related illnesses, even months later.

Writing About Trivia vs. Trauma

According to Dr. Pennebaker, “Active inhibition means that people must consciously restrain, hold back, or in some way exert effort to not think, feel or behave.” This is a challenging and difficult physiological state.

Dr. Pennebaker compared a group of college students who wrote about trauma with a group who wrote about trivial things (i.e., a description of their dormitory). Before the study, the 46 students visited the campus health clinic at similar rates. But after the exercise, the trauma writers’ visits were cut in half relative to the others. In another study, published in 1998, researchers found direct physiological evidence that writing increased the level of disease-fighting lymphocytes circulating in the blood stream. And preliminary research shows that writing can cause modest declines in blood pressure.

He and his associates  investigated the impact of expressive writing among worksite wellness program participants. He found a 28.6% reduction in absentee rates from work relative to the eight month period before, compared to a 48.5% increase in the absentee rate of participants who wrote about trivial events.

Dr. Pennebaker wrote, “The degree to which writing or talking about basic thoughts and feelings can produce profound physical or physiological changes is nothing short of amazing.

“People who write about their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding upsetting events have stronger immunity and visit doctors half as often as those who only write about trivial events. Writing about emotional upheavals has been found to improve the physical and mental health of grade school children, medical students, new mothers, nursing home residents, and victims of crime.

Source:  Pennebaker, James W. Telling Stories: The Health Benefits of Narrative, Literature and Medicine – Volume 19, Number 1, Spring 2000, pp. 3-18