As the holidays roll around, we want to talk about gratefulness.
Christmas, Thanksgiving, we need to say thanks a lot more.
So, I'm Dr. Carrie Lam, and this is Dr. Michael Lam,
our authority on adrenal fatigue.
So, how does gratefulness affect our bodies?
You know, for many, many decades,
we don't quite understand how gratefulness, being content, being happy
can really lead to a body that is just full of vitality.
The science has shown us that being grateful is not so simple.
Now, it starts with the understanding of how the sensory signals from our ears, from our eyes,
you know, from our nose, how we smell, how our experience,
actually, is converted into chemical signals, (that part we know),
and how it's then converted into adrenal functions through neurotransmitters,
as well as hormonal regulation.
At the brain level, the ability to be able to be grateful
can actually translate into physiological functions
that is beneficial for our body, and that part we're just beginning to understand,
the real impact of what this is all about.
And that's why the mind/body connections are a lot stronger
than most people ever thought of.
The key to understand is that, ultimately,
the brain is in control,
so in control of our emotions can control our health.
Right. So, it's not only, we are not only what we eat,
be we are also what we think and how our brain develops.
And so, how does gratefulness affect the body?
Like, what does it do to our cortisol levels?
Well, it helps to... Studies have shown that it actually helps balance cortisol levels significantly,
but it's not only the cortisol level because the cortisol level is only one part of
the neuroendometabolic stress response system and the hormonal circuit.
But, more importantly, being content, being happy,
and having a sense of gratefulness can actually modulate our parasympathetic nervous system.
For those adrenal fatigue sufferers who are in the advanced stages,
you know that your body's always in a state of kind of a fight or flight.
You're kind of jittery. You feel nervous, sleeplessness,
you know, sugar balancing problems.
So, these are physiological constructs
that can result from an overactive sympathetic tone,
and being grateful, being contented actually can modulate that,
and that is so important, because without a proper balance,
people with adrenal fatigue are frustrated. They are tired, disappointed in the medical system,
find that no recovery is in sight, oftentimes, relapses.
These are very frustrating events.
So, to be able to help soften the blow, soften the cushion,
and help the body recover and give it the right tools by way of mental modulation,
by going through specific exercises
to help shape our gratitude is very important.
Right. So, specific exercises,
like there have been studies that show that people who write gratitude letters
and actually say the letter to a person that they don't usually say thank you to
actually have more weeks of happiness than people who don't write these gratitude letters.
Yeah. In fact, we have a non-psychological, non-psychiatric program
for our clients that helps them to adaptively create the body's brain,
to shape it in such a way to increase the resilience,
to develop those gratitude attitudes, no matter how tough it is,
when things are going. And the results are quite excellent, is I'm saying,
but it has to be together. It's not just...
You cannot say, "Well, I'm just going to ignore my physical problem
and just be grateful, and I will get better."
That is not very real.
But you have to do a combination, to understand that the body, the mind, they're connected.
You know, we want to have a line that flows through,
and we address every single part of the components.
And in the case of gratitude, it's really part of the neural affect circuit,
one of the six circuits in the neuroendometabolic stress response
that we are addressing, because if you don't address that,
then the body will not have the complete healing
as it is entitled to if you do it right, you see.
And this neural affect circuit, like he was talking about,
it consists of the autonomic nervous system,
your brain, which is the central nervous system, and also your microbiome.
And how do these three kind of work together to create this circuit?
Well, we now know from the research that
the gut, for example, is actually called a second brain
because much of the neurotransmitters and many of the precursors,
like even the serotonins,
they are actually made in the gut first
and then transported to the brain where it is formulated into real hormones,
either prohormones or active hormones.
So, if you don't have a healthy gut,
you're not going to have a very healthy brain, by definition,
because raw material has to come from the right place.
So, the microbiome is responsible for much of these neurotransmitter precursors,
and of course, the neurotransmitters are also modulated in the delivery system,
the intensity of its release by the autonomic nervous system,
which goes 24/7 without our knowledge.
And, you know, you can have the neurotransmitters in the brain,
but how much is released, it depends on the sympathetic/parasympathetic balance,
and if that balance is off, then you're going to have a skewed delivery,
which will affect you physically, you see.
So, we're not talking about mood. We're not talking about,
in this session here, about being depressed, which is a medical condition,
that you need antidepressants.
We're talking about very mild,
you know, just being grateful, just being content,
understanding life has its struggles.
Life is what it is. It has its ups and its downs,
and how to deal with it in a constructive and positive fashion,
to modulate our brain to help it deal with our physiological construct
is what we are talking about here.
Right, because human beings are social beings, right.
You can talk about your mind, your body, but you have to deal with other people too,
and the part of gratefulness is, you're not just grateful to yourself,
you're grateful to people around you.
And that's what is important this holiday season as you spend the time with your family.
To be able to show this type of gratefulness
can be very beneficial to both you and your relationships around you.
Yeah. I have many, many clients that are just so thankful.
It's not necessarily that gratefulness alone, as I said, will heal them,
but when you combine it with the proper nutrition,
the proper mindset, then the body gets a whole holistic healing,
and the body will reward you once you give it that because the body makes sense.
The body likes to reward you for doing what's right.
And so, I really encourage people, not only through the holiday seasons,
but throughout the days, throughout the months, throughout the weeks,
to have a gratitude attitude
towards everybody around, no matter how tough things are.
And I know things can be tough. I went through this myself, you see.
So, we're very grateful to share this with you and for you watching our video.
So, make sure you share it with those that you are also grateful for, okay?