BRAIN-BODY SCIENCE   [ back to Glossary Index ]
Brain-Body Science is a new branch of medicine devoted to discovering the interactions between the brain and the immune, endocrine and cardiovascular systems; and learning to apply that knowledge to promote health. On particular area of focus is how psychological stress causes bio-chemical changes in the brain and related systems with resultant physical illnesses (such as hypertension, heart attack or stroke) and how enlightened stress management can prevent or reverse these illnesses. Research in this new field is proceeding on three levels: physiologic studies into biochemical connections (e.g. how stress depletes immune system cell count and increases release of cortisol and insulin with consequent increase in blood pressure, blood coagulation, bad LDL cholesterol and  abdominal body fat); epidemiologic studies showing associations between psycho-social response to illness and recovery rates (e.g. social isolation increases mortality after a heart attack, and having friends increase survival time after treatment for breast cancer); and clinical research testing the effectiveness of brain-body approaches to preventing or treating specific diseases.