Positive Thinking and Science.

Facebook archive. First published on 2022-11-22.

When I first heard the phrase that positive thinking affects recovery, it seemed unrealistic to me. What does thinking have to do with recovery? And most importantly, where is the connection? But this is how it happens with revolutionary discoveries in science: from time to time they confirm esoteric principles without wanting to. This is now a difficult period for everyone, not only in Ukraine but throughout the world; usually the end of autumn and the beginning of winter are connected with seasonal illnesses and flare-ups. The information is not exactly new, but if you did not follow it deliberately, you could have missed it.

A little theory. What is a cold? A cold or seasonal flare-up is often connected with increased bacterial division; because of favorable conditions, some types of bacteria begin to divide intensively, i.e. increase their numbers. The process of division applies to all types of bacteria, but we are interested only in pathogenic ones.

So in the off-season, when there is a lot of dampness and sharp temperature changes, bacteria divide intensively, and when our immune system cannot cope with them by ordinary means, internal defense protocols are activated, usually connected with fever, a runny nose, and cough. This is also the action of our immune system, but already at maximum capacity.

Most often we take antibiotics, which, by the way, we borrowed from those same bacteria, and their growth in numbers stops for a while, but if the cause has not been eliminated, we get sick again.

Bacteria have three types of division: intensive, maintaining numbers, and weak division. Scientists have established that bacteria communicate with one another using neurotransmitters. Not only the environment, but also neurotransmitters influence bacterial division. When the colony is in danger, bacteria begin to divide intensively; when the colony is safe, it maintains its numbers and division is not so intensive. When competition within one species is sufficiently high, division decreases.

A simple conclusion suggests itself: one should influence the bacteria in such a way that they stop dividing intensively. I.e. provide them with such a bacterial neurotransmitter that the colony feels comfortable and does not feel threatened. After all, sharp temperature changes are an external threat to the colony. If only we had this bacterial neurotransmitter at hand, then at the beginning of feeling unwell one could eat a pill and change bacterial division from intensive to ordinary or reduced.

The most remarkable thing is that separate neurotransmitters do not exist. We share them with bacteria. And in fact, bacteria eavesdrop on us when this or that neurotransmitter reaches them.

You have probably heard of such a neurotransmitter as adrenaline, which switches our body into a mode of heightened readiness for danger, and then the body is in the “fight or flight” stage. There are many neurotransmitters and their functions are different, so I will explain using it as an example. So bacteria are also sensitive to adrenaline, and when they encounter it, the colony switches into a heightened danger mode and begins to divide intensively.

Accordingly, when we experience stress, no matter what kind of stress it is, psychological stress or the body's stress from a sharp change in temperature, bacteria also experience stress, only for them it is much simpler. They have only three switch positions: everything is bad, everything is good, and there are many of us, maybe it is enough to divide. In fact, when we experience positive emotions or receive a reward, even a small one, the chemistry of our body influences the chemistry of bacteria, and their growth slows down or stops.

And since contagions and infections accompany almost every disease, and one way or another this is connected with bacterial division, positive thinking, if it does not cure, definitely eases the course of many illnesses.

Here is your magic little pill: protect yourself from stress, indulge yourself more often, and stay healthy. The world is what it is; the situation develops as it develops. There is no sense in living in stress, hatred, and expectation of something bad; it has a harmful effect on our health.