When Healing Happens But We Don't Know Why
We'll hear stories about how meditation is being used to treat long COVID, the burgeoning field of cardiac psychology, and harnessing our fight-or-flight response to treat PTSD. On this episode, we explore the mind-body connection. Increasingly, though, researchers are challenging that disconnect, and new treatments are exploring surprising ways in which the body helps heal the mind, and vice versa. But in medicine, there is still a firm line separating physical symptoms from thoughts and emotions, a barrier between physical and mental health. The mind and body form a powerful feedback loop - with each triggering processes in the other. Chronic pain, on the other hand, can cause anxiety, depression - even problems with memory and focus. When we experience pleasure, happy chemicals flood our brains, keeping us calm and relaxed.
Likewise, our bodies have a profound impact on our minds. Your heart rate increases your blood pressure rises maybe your palms feel sweaty, or your stomach feels tight. We all know how stress - or anger, or pangs of anxiety - can affect the body.But what if giving up really is the best option? What if we're miserable, or burned out, or realize our goals have changed? When should we stick it out - and when should we walk away? On this episode, we explore those questions with writer Julia Keller, who examines the science - and potential benefits - of throwing in the towel in her new book, "Quitting: A Life Strategy: The Myth of Perseverance and How the New Science of Giving Up Can Set You Free." We also hear stories about one woman's reckoning with the effects of long COVID on her life, and what prompted a young 20-something to give up everything for a life on the road. Quitters never win, and winners never quit. It's something we hear everywhere - from greats like Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky, in movies and TV shows, on motivational posters and in children's books: Go the distance. The messages we receive around quitting are usually straightforward - don't do it.
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