The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions Book

If you are struggling with an illness, this book is an eye-opening achievement in brain-body interactions and brain-immune system communications regarding healing. A wealth of evidence supports that "emotions and health are one." Dr. Esther Sternberg has done 5-star research on this and takes it deep into the scientific core in easy to understand language. She reminds us that our brains have maps of our relationships. Loss, loneliness, rejection, isolation, disappointment, fears, anxiety and stress all affect our molecules and nerve pathways to cause disease and pain. To achieve this balance, Sternberg identifies healthy food, clean water, exercise, rest; however, she adds love, acceptance, belief and spirituality. A fine menu of nourishment!

On the scientific side'stress can directly create inflammation in the body; the inflammation causes diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and many more. Learning how stress acts to stimulate the inflammation is the key. Sternberg identifies hormone response, parts of the brain and brain circuitry, imagery, learning and expectation, and biological mechanisms as all playing a role in the susceptibility and resistance to inflammatory diseases.

Chapter 9 "Can Believing Make You Well?" is especially comprehensive. Can we consciously choose to heal? Sternberg addresses the power of prayer on the mind, spirit, and body. "Repeated performances of a set of actions, like prayer, can become automatic and impart a sense of peace to soothe the immune responses (A Duke University study and other studies support this) and reverse the stress factor, decreasing the inflammation for healing. She cites two sides to prayer: "One is what happens to the believer praying, and the other is the prayer itself. A part of the prayer's effect might come from removing stress'reversing that burst of hormones that can suppress immune cell function."

A lot in this book comes down to rewiring the nerves, neurotransmitters, and thought as it relates to the brain and body in order to release healing endorphins. I have simplified too much here. But if learning, expectation, imagination, and spirituality are part of our belief system, then why couldn't believing change pain and create healing? This book is not only an illuminating scientific read into health but also a guide to harmonizing the mind, body, spirit. Every medical doctor needs to read this.