This morning I read with interest this recent article in the Journal of Clinical Medicine surrounding the links between altered stress response, abnormalities in the HPA axis, and the chronic pain phenotype.
Everyone knows that exposure to sunlight can give you a change in your body. It could cause a tan, a burn, and/or a cancer. The changes that your body undergoes as a result of environmental exposure to things like sunlight or tobacco smoke or opioids are known as epigenetic changes. These changes alter the ability of your body to read its own DNA blueprints through a process called methylation. The end result is that the genes being expressed directly impact the outward appearance and internal wellness of the individual.
Patients living with chronic painful conditions often display a wide range of symptom severities. Part of this is genetic, part of this is epigenetic, and part of it is related to the natural history of the underlying disease/pathology.
Feeling good takes effort. Regulation of mood and wellness is essentially regulating the stress response. This can be trained with a variety of mind-body techniques. No specific technique is better than another, but compliance is critical. The variability in symptom severity depends on the patient’s protoplasm. What is in your cells, either genetically or environmentally-induced, ultimately defines the inward and outward appearance.
For me, inward and outward wellness is supported by yoga practice, attention to detail, and being kind to people, plants and animals. <Shout out to CorePower Yoga.>
What drives your inward and outward wellness?
Namaste.