Episode 24: The Mind-Body Connection with Donna Jackson Nakazawa

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Can Our Minds Help Heal (or Harm) Our Bodies?

Once upon a time, this idea was considered new age and science-fiction, but as we gain understanding into the brain and body, we see how intimately one affects the other. Not only is our brain performing billions of actions to keep us alive every second (and this isn’t an exaggeration). Our thoughts and emotions actually influence this biochemical and neurological cascade, either increasing or decreasing inflammation, and even changing our immune system in a way that makes us more (or less) vulnerable to autoimmune disease. It’s a fascinating field of research called Psychoneuroimmunology.

Today, I interview Donna Jackson Nakazawa, a woman living with autoimmune disease herself, who is also the author of two books about the mind-body connection. In The Last Best Cure, she chronicles her year-long self-experiment into mind-body practices and their effects on her own autoimmune symptoms. In Childhood Disrupted, she researches how childhood trauma can change both our developing brain and immune systems, which can set us up for autoimmune disease later in life. She also shares tools to help reverse this process.

Listen to the Show

Show Notes

  • Intro (0:00)
  • Meet Donna (0:51)
  • Her Year-Long Mind-Body Self-Experiment (8:02)
    • Her new doctor introduced her to the idea that stress, both currently and in the past, could affect her autoimmunity in the present-day. Together, they created a mind-body treatment plan. Donna agreed to keep all other variables the same (no changes in diet, supplements or medication), and added meditation, yoga and acupuncture to her life.
    • For the first 6 months, she practiced meditation and mindfulness only. Next she added yoga, and lastly, she added acupuncture.
    • All 3 modalities improved her health dramatically. In her book, The Last Best Cure, she shares the details, including changes in her blood work, pain levels, fatigue, strength, eczema, family relationships, and daily happiness.
  • What is Psychoneuroimmunology – PNI? (10:11)
  • The Impact of Childhood Trauma on Adult Autoimmune Disease (12:40)
    • Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can change the ways genes express themselves also. Healthy bodies have a stress response that turns on when needed and off when no longer needed. Children who have experienced trauma or high stress at a young age, lose this ability. Their stress response stays switched on for life, unless they take steps (through mind-body techniques) to turn it off again.
    • While negative experiences can result in negative epigenetic expression of our genes, positive ones can reverse those changes. The second half of Donna’s book, Childhood Disrupted, details all the ways we can turn the stress response off again.
    • Donna herself had an impactful ACE experience – her father’s death when she was a child. Part of her healing during the mind-body year was addressing the impact this had on her body and her health.
    • Quote from the book: “The link between being female, facing adversity in childhood, and later developing a serious autoimmune disease is so consequential that it resembles the link between smoking and lung cancer, drunk driving and car accidents, and unprotected sex and pregnancy.”
    • ACE experiences have a stronger effect now than in the past, because in modern life our bodies are under stress from multiple directions, including chemicals in our food and our environments. The combination of all factors makes us more vulnerable to autoimmune disease.
    • Resource: ACE Survey to check your ACE Score.
    • Resource: research articles into the impact of ACE experiences on health.
  • One Reason Why More Women Than Men Have Autoimmune Disease (24:10)
    • Estrogen allows women to do everything a man does with smaller bodies and smaller organs, and in addition, give birth to children. Estrogen gives us a more robust immune response as well. Under chronic stress, our estrogen regulation becomes faulty, driving a higher immune response that can turn into autoimmunity.
  • The Mind-Body Connection Can Help Anyone with Autoimmune Disease (35:47)
    • Not everyone with autoimmune disease had a traumatic childhood. And not everyone with a traumatic childhood develops autoimmune disease. It is one factor among many.
    • Autoimmune disease is a chronic stressor itself, and the mind-body connection can be a powerful tool in anyone’s healing journey.
    • Mind-body techniques decrease inflammation body-wide, help the body come back into a state of homeostasis, and take our brain out of its stress-reactive state. Basically, we replace the inflammatory response with a relaxation response, instead.
  • Mindfulness Techniques (42:51)
  • Outro (1:01:46)

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6 comments on “Episode 24: The Mind-Body Connection with Donna Jackson Nakazawa”

  1. This podcast resonated so deeply with me! I believe whole-heartedly that unless our stress is reduced (not managed, because really, we’re all “managing” it on some level, and, not well) and we develop healthy coping skills, food and fitness changes will not have the impact they otherwise could. When I first started AIP, the food caused me crazy stress! Also, I started my 8-week MBSR class last week, so I was so happy to hear Donna recommend it. I originally thought I’d take it to help my clients with stress, but I quickly discovered that I was in dire need of the practice myself. With an ACE score of 6, I see that stress has laid the foundation for illness in my life including cancer twice and auto-immune illness, but I am so thankful that I can change that – that’s a gift and a blessing! Be well 🙂 Thanks for all you do!!

    1. Hi Jeanne. I’m so glad you found this podcast at this time in your life. I’m taking an MBSR class too! Mine starts in two weeks – I’m excited and nervous at the same time – but mostly hopeful about its positive potential for my life.

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