An 'Om' A Day Could Keep Inflammation at Bay

[Guest guest]

An 'Om' A Day

Could Keep Inflammation at Bay

September 28, 2006

by Meryl Rothstein

 

Researchers have long believed that meditation can

soothe both body and mind. One researcher is taking

that principle a step farther, suggesting that people

can use meditation to actively regulate their immune

systems.

 

In 2002, neuroscientist and immunologist, Kevin J.

Tracey, director and chief executive of the Feinstein

Institute for Medical Research, discovered that the

brain and the immune system are linked through the

vagus nerve, a large nerve that begins in the

brainstem and travels all the way through the torso.

Advertisement

 

This month, he's raised the possibility that people

may be able to exploit this conduit in order to

control their immune systems & #8212;at least to some

degree & #8212;with their minds.

 

" We can start to ask questions about whether it might

be possible to teach people to control this

voluntarily, " said Tracey, who spoke about his theory

at " Longevity and Optimal Health, " a conference

jointly sponsored by the Columbia University

Integrative Medicine Program and Tibet House U.S.

 

The vagus nerve controls the production of tumor

necrosis factor (TNF), a protein that signals the body

to mount an inflammatory response. Decreasing vagus

nerve activity ups TNF synthesis, whereas increasing

vagus nerve activity limits TNF production and

therefore inflammation.

 

Though inflammation can be useful in fighting

infection, excessive inflammation can cause disease,

such as Crohn's disease or rheumatoid arthritis.

 

Tracey's research opened the door to treating

inflammatory diseases with drugs or devices that

control vagus nerve activity, an approach that has

proven successful in animals.

 

But at the conference, Tracey raised the possibility

that vagus nerve activity, and therefore inflammation,

could also be controlled mentally.

 

Meditation has been shown to slow heart rate via

signals that travel down the vagus nerve. Those same

signals, Tracey speculates, may also dampen immune

response, making it possible for people to ease the

symptoms of inflammatory diseases through exercises

such as meditation and yoga.

 

Eastern medical practitioners have claimed for

thousands of years that meditation can have positive

effects on the immune system, said Erin Olivo, a

clinical psychologist and director of the Columbia

program that co-sponsored the conference.

 

" But in the West, we can't simply take that as an

answer, " she said.

 

" In order to begin to empirically validate these

theories, " she continued, " you have to use a

methodology that the Western scientific tradition

respects. "

 

Further studies of vagus nerve activity in humans will

provide more insight into the effectiveness of

meditation and other similar techniques for

controlling inflammation.

 

" We haven't figured out whether these modalities work

or not, " Tracey said. " Now we can think about how to

answer the question. "

 

 

© 2006 Seed Media Group, LLC.