The Limbic System and the Body Part 1

The Limbic System and the Body
by Ron Eslinger, CRNA

The Hypothalamus, also a part of the Limbic System, is concerned with homeostasis of the body (homeostasis is maintaining the body at a baseline). The Hypothalamus regulates blood pressure, heart rate, hunger, thirst, sexual desire, the sleep cycle, and body temperature. Injury to the Hypothalamus can result in a continuing rise of body temperature in a patient. The body temperature keeps going up or down because the injury damaged the Hypothalamus and now the body’s regulatory system is out. Keep in mind; our body temperature is regulated to tenths of a degree to keep the body functioning normally.

As stated earlier, homeostasis is the process of returning something to a predetermined set point. The body’s normal set point is to feel comfortable. They go in hypnosis is to return those with chronic pain, back to a set point of comfort or to reach activate that set point. I do this in hypnosis by asking the client to remember what comfort felt like and to let every sale remember what normal is. Every 90 days soft tissue cells divide into a daughter cell and the mother cells die. Skeletal cells divide in this same manner every 180 days. The memory DNA from the mother cell is transferred to the new daughter cell during the division process. Fortunately, DNA memory in the cell can be changed. When we change how we think and how we talk to ourselves, we influence the memories in the cells. This is synonymous with an upgrade.

However, to obtain this memory upgrade, we have to upgrade our thinking. Through positive self-talk and concentrated focus, we override the memory of existing pain. In this manner, your brain is operating as a thermostat, regulating memories back to a set point and creating new memories to pass on to the new daughter cells. These new memories create new behaviors. This process works whether the new memory is positive or negative. Negative new memories reinforce pain, resulting in the continued memory of pain (chronic pain) or the worsening of pain. When the client activates lots of positive new memories of what being normal is for each sale that sale will send a signal of comfort to the brain. There is no pain, until the message gets to the brain.

The Hypothalamus is important to hypnotists because it is responsible for regulating so many vital functions in the body. For example, the Hypothalamus regulates hunger. If I am working with weight management clients, we work on their Hypothalamus by creating a new thought pattern of healthy eating, along with the related function of thirst. Why thirst? Water detoxifies and is necessary for normal cell function.

Few people know how much water they should drink. Do you know how much water you are supposed to drink every day? You should be drinking half (1/2) your body weight in ounces of water each day to rid your body of toxins, maintain correct circulation volume, and promote tissue hydration. Drinking water makes a big difference, not just for persons over weight, but also for pain management. If you’re not drinking half your body weight in ounces of water every day, your liver must take up some of the work of your kidneys that need fluid in order to filter toxins. If you consume coffee (or other caffeinated beverages), you have to counter the diuretic affects with double the volume of water. So, if you just swallowed an eight-ounce cup of coffee, you have to replace the lost fluids with 8-ounces of water.

Our responses to pain, our levels of pleasure, our sexual satisfaction, anger, aggressive behavior and more are all packed into the Hypothalamus. Research shows that using hypnosis allows those responses to bypass the cognitive part of our brain and go directly to the Limbic System and the Hypothalamus. That is why hypnosis works so well for pain, weight management, behavioral changes, and the elimination of substance abuse. It is simply this, “Change the mind, change the brain, change the behavior.”

The Hypothalamus also regulates the functioning of the parasympathetic (rest and digest) and the sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous systems, which in turn means it regulates things like pulse, blood pressure, breathing, and arousal in response to emotional circumstances. Therefore, changing thoughts also changes our health. Ultimately hypnosis is used, along with other psychological techniques, to retrain the brain’s response through the Limbic System.

How many people have you known that break out in hives or are plagued with severe headaches? In many cases the hives and headaches are their response to stress. I treated a lady for Herpes Zoster, otherwise known as Shingles. This illness is wrapped up in emotions. The nervous system is activated which triggers a stress response that in turn, activates the virus.

Dr. John Rowlingson, the director of the University of Virginia Department of Anesthesiology Pain Management Center, is quoted as saying, “[The Limbic System] might explain why therapies that act primarily in the brain, such as hypnosis, biofeedback, and brain stimulation, work so well to control pain.” The mind is united with the body through messenger molecules or neurotransmitters. Our emotions, sensations, thoughts, and images of consciousness use common communication channels with the molecular-genetic mechanisms of the body. Everything works together. Therefore, if you want to increase your immune system, smile, have a happy thought, and commune with nature. The limbic system does not know the difference between a fake smile and a real smile. Therefore, the response to a fake smile is the same as a real smile.

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Part 2 tomorrow