The brain’s role in good health

Topics …

• 5.1 How your brain regulates your health
• 5.2 Positive thinking
• 5.3 Mindfulness, meditation and pain management

5.1 How your brain regulates your health

The brain has a crucial role to play in your health. This generally occurs at a subconscious or autonomous level although there are steps you can take consciously to enhance this process

The obvious steps are eating the right foods (see chapter 2, especially 2.8 Diet/Brain) and a variety of regular physical activity, preferably daily (see chapter 3 Exercise). But there are others, including mindfulness and positive thinking (below).

The following table outlines key areas of your health that are regulated by your brain, together with brief explanations of how this works and what to do to help.

Health area	Brain influence	What to do	Sign of imbalance
Coordination / movement	Motor areas of the brain (e.g., cerebellum, motor cortex) affect movement, balance and coordination.	Varied physical activity – walking, stretching, balance exercises.	Clumsiness, poor posture, or difficulty with some motor tasks.
Digestion and appetite	The brain regulates hunger and satiety through the hypothalamus and interacts with the gut via the enteric nervous system.	Eat mindfully, avoid multitasking during meals, and tune into hunger/fullness cues.	Cravings, bloating, irregular appetite, or emotional eating.
Immune function	The link between your brain and your immune system (via the vagus nerve) affects your immune system.	Look after your microbiome/gut health, manage stress, get adequate sleep.	Frequent infections, slow healing, or chronic inflammation.
Pain perception	The brain processes pain signals and can modulate their intensity.	Use distraction, relaxation techniques, and gentle movement.	Heightened sensitivity, persistent pain or emotional distress.
Sleep	The brain controls sleep cycles through the circadian rhythm and melatonin production, impacting energy, mood, and recovery.	Consistent sleep schedule, reduce screen time before bed	Trouble falling asleep, waking often, daytime fatigue, mood swings.
Stress regulation	The brain activates the stress response via the hypothalamus and adrenal system. Chronic stress can dysregulate this system, affecting immunity and cardiovascular health.	Practice deep breathing, mindfulness, and regular movement. Limit stimulants and schedule downtime.	Frequent irritability, sleep disruption, digestive issues, or feeling constantly “on edge.”

Personal story – sleep and brain health

5.2 Positive thinking

Positive thinking is having a constructive mental attitude. It involves focusing on strengths and opportunities, beneficial solutions and looking at setbacks as a temporary pause on the path to a good outcome. It’s not quite the same as optimism (which itself is quite different to wishful thinking) but they are closely related and the benefits for health are very similar.

The benefits of positive thinking

• positive people have stronger immune systems, more resilience and recover more quickly from illness and injury;
• mental health is improved e.g. it helps ward off anxiety
• positive thinking enhances coping skills and reduces the duration and intensity of stress, protecting the body from its damaging effects;
• chronic inflammation that underlies many diseases can be reduced by positive thinking;
• better relationships and higher life satisfaction are experienced by people who are positive thinkers;
• positive thinking helps the management of pain (see below) and chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis.

Proactive health and positive thinking

Practising proactive health supports mental health and well-being which contributes to a positive outlook on life. In turn, a positive attitude contributes to good health.

How does it work?

Personal story – learning to be positive: a matter of choice

JG was prone to seeing life through a “half empty” lens with a tendency to focus on setbacks. Struggling with chronic stress he found himself trapped in a cycle of negative thinking that affected his relationships and career. He had to do something about it. Through a combination of cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness and the support of a local positivity group, he gradually shifted his mindset and learned to reframe setbacks as challenges or opportunities. Over time, this transformation not only improved his mental health but also empowered him to pursue new goals.

What makes a positive thinker?

• Attitude e.g. challenging negative beliefs, which are not always rational, and replacing them with constructive thoughts.
• Diet and nutrients: A well-balanced diet plays an important role in fostering positive thinking and mindfulness because the nutrients we consume have a direct effect on how the brain functions.
• Gratitude: Being grateful tends to make us look at life more positively – even appreciation for everyday occurrences and small things, such as a fleeting connection with another person, helps to build positivity. Gratitude on a macro level (e.g. for who you are, where you live; etc,) is even more helpful for being a positive thinker.
• Professional advice: Advice from a cognitive-behavioural therapist, particularly if you suffer from chronic negativity, can make a big difference.
• Reframing: It helps to look at difficulties as challenges, rather than becoming despondent or ignoring them in the hope that they will go away.
• Smiling: Research shows that lifting your head, straightening your spine and smiling (even slightly) are not only a reflection of your mood, they help shape it. It can trigger subtle shifts in brain chemistry, reduce stress hormones and encourage optimism: Posing smiles can brighten our mood | Stanford Report¹
• Supportive people: Being associated with supportive and positive people can foster optimism and positive thinking.

Further reading: How to become a positive thinker

5.3 Mindfulness

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is being mentally alert, aware and focusing on the present situation (what is sometimes referred to as “being in the present”). This includes concentrating on what you’re doing, but it goes well beyond that. True mindfulness involves keeping in mind all relevant internal and external circumstances including your objective, your physical environment and the unfolding context around you. It is the opposite of doing things on autopilot or letting your mind wander. The next time you walk into a room and forget why you are there, it’s probably because you didn’t maintain mindfulness after you thought about what you needed to get, headed in that direction and unconsciously allowed autopilot to switch on.

The Mindfulness Lift

There are various ways to achieve mindfulness. Some people do it by breathing deeply (see section 6.2 – Deep Breathing) or thinking about awareness or just focusing more on what they’re doing.

Another way is the “mindfulness lift” which involves consciously shifting the balance point between your emotion and your brain i.e. the point on the spectrum between your feelings ‘centre’ and thinking ‘centre’. It varies depending upon what factors are influencing your emotion and your cognition at the time. Try blanking out your mind and see if you can locate your balance point. Then think about lifting it to your mind, perhaps a space behind your eyes, your temples or somewhere deeper in your head.

Health benefits of mindfulness

• Accident avoidance: mindfulness enhances situational awareness – noticing uneven ground, slippery surfaces, or physical strain before it leads to injury. This can prevent falls which, for older adults, can be very important especially if osteoporosis is a problem.
• Emotional management: it fosters self-awareness and reduces anxiety, making it easier to navigate difficult emotions.
• Enhanced relationships: practise mindful listening; pause before responding; let go the urge to “fix” or interrupt.
• Enjoyment and pleasure: mindfulness slows perception just enough to allow savouring – the deliberate appreciation of positive experiences (such as the flavour of a piece of food, the warmth of conversation, etc, etc).
• Feeling better: Mindfulness itself can improve your disposition, and your posture, which in turn will also make you feel better. You may want to help it along by thinking about standing tall and smiling.
• Focus: regularly practising mindfulness enhances attention span and working memory.
• Pain management: see below.
• Sleep benefits: mindfulness can calm racing thoughts and support healthy sleep patterns
• Stress reduction: mindfulness lowers cortisol levels and helps regulate the nervous system; it can be assisted by pausing for 3-5 purposeful, deep breaths before moving from one activity, task, thought, environment, etc, to another.
• Well-being: mindfulness can enhance the level of meaning and fulfilment (“eudaimonic well-being”) that a person experiences in life as well as the level of pleasure and enjoyment (“hedonic well-being”). In particular, mindful people report greater satisfaction in activities like eating, listening to music, walking in nature, and even routine tasks – not because the activities change, but because their attention does. Further reading: The benefits of mindfulness

Personal story – how mindfulness enhances well-being:

Over six months, she noticed a significant reduction in her anxiety levels and an improved ability to concentrate. She also found that her sleep quality improved, contributing to overall well-being.

Meditation

Pain management

Mindfulness does not actually reduce the level of physical pain, it lowers the perception of pain and makes it more bearable. It involves accepting the pain and noticing its qualities (sharp, dull, constant, etc) without thoughts such as “this is terrible” or “I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to put up with this”.

It requires focusing on other present-moment issues such as your breathing, sounds around you, etc, which takes up cognitive resources (or “bandwidth”) and directs the brain’s attention away from the pain. It tends to reduce the mental and emotional stress that often makes the pain seem worse.

As discussed under Stress Management, Deep breathing techniques are helpful because this activates the parasympathetic nervous system – the rest and repair mechanism – which counters the body’s stress response, lowers cortisol (which can amplify pain) and improves heart rate variability which is associated with better pain tolerance. Further reading: Use mindfulness to cope with chronic pain.

Practical tips: In addition to ‘distracting’ your brain by focusing on other things and avoiding the tendency to put a judgemental label on the pain, “body scan” mindfulness can help by focusing on different parts of your body and the sensations associated with those parts. It also helps to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. For example, this may involve consulting a physiotherapist who may be able to release muscles and ligaments that are causing tension that can cause, or contribute to, the pain. This not only has a physical benefit but also a psychological benefit – knowing that the underlying problem is on the way to repair can make a big difference to the perception of pain.

Medical advice: There are times when it is necessary to seek medical advice, such as when pain is persistent (lasts for more than a few days), gets worse or interferes with daily life. You should also seek help if the pain is accompanied by other signs or symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, fatigue, headaches, digestive issues, infections, dizziness, changes in vision, speech or movement.