The Emotional Dimension of Health

The word emotion comes from the latin root movere ‘move’. Hereby, emotions are that which make us move, and spring us into action or inaction. Emotions are mostly regulated by neurotransmitters (signaling molecules) in our nervous system (including dopamine, norepinephrine, among others) and hormones. Such signaling effects the whole body´s physiology or functioning. These are the reason behind our heart beating faster when we are excited or afraid, among other things.

The emotional dimension of health is related to the our personal experiences. This sphere inter-relates socioeconomic, demographic, psychological and up-bringing factors. Particularly, our way of understanding and dealing with them.

It is well known that there is a connection between the body´s physical health and

our emotions. This can be referred to the psycho-somatic or mind-body connection.

And what an important connection it is! For example, people who experience great amounts of stress can consequently develop health problems.

Our capacity to become aware and deal with negative as well as positive emotions makes the foundation of our emotional health. Some ways are better than others. For example, some people might smoke or drink in order to deal with emotional distress; this, however, brings about its own series of consequences. Others might journal and reflect on them. Some might even repress them for years. There are many ways and we will be discussing constructive ways to understand and deal with them in the near future.

Dealing with one´s emotions constructively is an integral ability for us to have emotional health. Not doing so can be damaging and place us in greater risk for disease, including but not limited to: cancer, substance abuse and heart disease.

This is without a doubt an interesting topic, and this has been but a brief description. We will come back to it as soon as the remaining dimensions are introduced.

Jorge A Cevallos, MD