Researchers found link between mind-body connections read more at here http://spinonews.com/index.php/component/k2/item/652

The mind-body connection has become an important sounding in recent years. Now, new research in monkeys highlights how the link may actually work.

In the study, researchers found a number of areas in the brain that are directly linked to the adrenal glands, which control the body's response to stress.

Peter Strick, scientific director of the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute and the lead author of the study said, researchers were able to make physiological and psychological connections that distinction on how the mind affects the body.

Researchers traced the neural pathways between the brain (mind) and the adrenal gland (body) of monkeys using a method that involves the rabies virus.  

This virus can be taken up at the connections between nerve cells and can move in both forward and reverse directions through a neuron. Using this method of tracking the virus, scientists can look at four to six links in a chain of interconnected neurons and map their locations both in the brain and the body.

Previously scientists believe that the responsible for control of the adrenal medulla having one or two areas. But, the new findings revealed that there were multiple areas in the brain's cortex that influenced the function of the adrenal medulla and that these brain areas operated in different domains.

Although the experiments were done in monkeys, the findings have practical applications to the mind-body connection in humans, because monkeys have some similar brain anatomy to humans.

This finding suggest that a person's core muscles can have an impact on stress, and could also explain why exercises, such as yoga and Pilates that relax these muscles help to reduce stress.

It showed that there are areas of the brain activated during meditation that influence the adrenal medulla. Researchers also discovered other areas of the brain associated with sensing conflict or becoming aware of making an error that are also linked by neural networks to the adrenal medulla.

The results demonstrate that the mind-body connection is real. There are neural pathways in the brain that influence a person's thoughts, feelings and movements, and these have important connections to the adrenal gland and influence how it responds to stress.