Psychoneuroimmunology

So i discovered that the field of medicine i was researching into is called psychoneuroimmunology. It looks at both mental and physiological aspects of disease, mainly chronic diseases. There is a journal article by Lutgendorf and Costanzo called Psychoneuroimmunology and health psychology: An intergrative model which looks to correlate aging and stress. They found that disease processes through psychosocial processes and health behaviors. Psychosocial processes were factors like mental health, mood factors, life events, personality characteristics, and resources like social relationships. Health behavior was activities like exercise, nutrient and smoking. Certain factors like social support and exercises were thought to enhance resistance while others like depression and cigarette smoking were thought to increase vulnerability. This concept is the basis of the biopsycosocial model and the factors interact to create vulnerability to disease. They found in their review that each person could tolerate a certain level of stress before they become symptomatic. Examples include a shift from a Th-1 response to a Th-2 response as one ages. This type of immune shift is thought to be important to the body’s ability to fend of diseases. Common models to illustrate the affects of stress are the stress of caring of a spouse who has Alzheimer’s or dementia. The caregivers were given immunizations to the influenza virus and those who care for their disabled spouses were four times less likely to build up the proper antibody response. In fact, only 30-50% of older adults were able to mount the response as opposed to 70-90% of younger adults. Protective factors like social support, active coping strategies and sense of meaning in life were important imuno-boosting factors (Lutgendorf). This review shows that health psychology and psyconeuroimmunolgy is a budding field. Stress seems to be a factor in amplifying age-related immune dysfunction. As for a response, behavioral interventions, especially support groups, appear to help mitigate these factors.


Citation:

Costanzo ES. Lutgendorf SK. Sood AK. Anderson B. Sorosky J. Lubaroff DM. (2005). Psychosocial factors and interleukin-6 among women with advanced ovarian cancer. Cancer, 104, 305-13.

National Geographic Speical

This must have been a feature in National Geographic but they have this interactive website on longevity. The photojournalist went to three separate cultures in the world and tried to observe why the people lived so long.

The first was Sardinia, Italy. There the men live as long as the women do. This is an impressive feat. The scientists theorize that it has to do with the fact that the "women wear the pants" in the family. This goes to alleviate a lot of the stress on the men and perhaps its the more stress free lifestyle that has allowed for longer life. In addition, there is a strong family bond. In the journalist's example, there is a family in which 4 generations always have a sunday meal together. The journalist asks whether is will last. The Sardinian culture is fading and the younger generations are leaving and moving away from the home. Compounding, the young are living more sedentary lives and eat less natural foods, more processed foods.
In Okinawa, Japan, there are many people living over 100 and the people who are living in their 90s are going 8 miles out to fish and biking around the village. There is this woman who is lving in a kamoi (??? spelling) which is esentially a support group. It's a group of people all living together. Again, the social support is important. The last component of the Okinawan lifestyle is a low caloric density intake. The food is full of fish, carrots, potatoes, and seaweed.
The final group is from Loma Linda, Ca. The town is mainly comprised of Seventh Day Aventits. The religion positively supports the people's lifestyles. To be an Aventits they have to be vegitarians, not smoke, and take a full day of sabbath on saturday. The journalist followed a 100 year old woman who just got her driver's license renewed and lifts weights and cycles every morning. Interesting to not, this final group is the only group who is "keeping" their longevity and not loosing it.

It's interesting to see that the modern world is actually living shorter. Have we actually reach a point in society that we've reached at least a temporary limit in our age that we are regressing? Just brainstorming, I know that Chinese, and Asians in general, live longer than their Caucasian counterparts. What sticks out is the familial bond that exists. I think this social support is a driving factor in "propping up" the lifespans of these people. It'll be interested to see if I can find some more scientific evidence. These three genetically dissimilar groups share one thing in common: lifestyle change.


If you want to watch the commentated slideshow I watched, it's here: http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0511/sights_n_sounds/index.html

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What it's all about?

Medicine in the West has always been about finding the problem and fixing that one specific problem. All the different specialities are only a testament to this way of thinking. Eastern medicine has always taken a more holistic approach, looking at body together. Considering eastern medicines like Chinese medicine have been around for so long, they might be doing something right.

Doctors have always to some extent known that the mind plays a role in disease outcome. There has not been much clinical evidence in the past. More recently, anecdotal evidence is now being supported by hard clinical research.

During the course of the next couple months, I am going to be looking into the "emerging" field of holistic medicine and its affects on disease outcome. I'm going to attempt to find terminal disease and see how well they play out with different forms of psychotherapy. The worst thing i could discover is that it the whole mind stuff doesn't work. I don't expect to find out that having a positive mental outlook is bad for a disease outcome. Hopefully, I learn that having a positive attidude is going to increase the rate of possitive outcomes.