Guest Post: "The Mind-Body Connection" by Diana Raab

Diana Raab
Author, nurse, wife, mom, cancer survivor

The mind-body connection means that your body responds to the way you think, feel and act. For years we have known that our emotions have a strong impact on our health, but more recently studies have been popping up to prove this phenomenon. When we are stressed or anxious, our body warns us that things are not right. For example, we may exhibit some of the following symptoms, such as back pain, changes in appetite, palpitations, sexual problems, stiff neck, diarrhea, constipation and/or random aches and pains.


Furthermore, stress and anxiety tend to contribute to poor emotional health which can weaken your immune system, thereby making you more susceptible to colds, and infections and in more extreme cases, cancer.

Recent studies performed by UCLA scientists reveal how stress makes people more susceptible to illness. One scientist, Rita Effros, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and a member of the Jonsson Cancer Center, Molecular Biology Institute and UCLA AIDS Institute. says, “When the body is under stress, it boosts production of cortisol to support a “fight or flight" response. If the hormone remains elevated in the bloodstream for long periods of time, though, it wears down the immune system.”

There are a number of things you can do to improve your emotional health, so that your physical health remains intact. For example:

1) Lead a balanced life – minimize obsessions

2) Be resilient

3) Eat well and exercise regularly

4) Meditate to calm your mind and body

5) Express yourself through writing or another art form

As a nurse, writer and journaling advocate, I have found that both writing and meditating do a world of wonders to minimize my own stress and have helped me through many turbulent times in my own life, including three high-risk pregnancies, death of loved ones and more recently, two bouts with cancer.

When we are dealing with stress, writing is an effective way to ground us and help us gain clarity about what we are going through. This benefits our emotional health. Writing can quiet the agitated mind. It empowers us and improves our communication skills. It’s also a safe place to vent bottled-up emotions. Writing brings you face to face with your own truth and reality which can help you work through your problems.

Dr. James Pennebaker, author of WRITING TO HEAL, has spent more than 25 years studying the link between writing and health. He found that writing about strong feelings improves both our mental and physical health. Not only is it important to write about the sad moments, but it’s important to also write about the happy moments in our lives too.

Here are some tips to keep in mind about journaling:

1) Choose a notebook or journal which resonates with you

2) Choose a pen which is comfortable in your hand

3) Find a place where you will be uninterrupted whether it in your office, in the bookstore, mall or a park

4) Date your entries

5) Write for at least 15-20 minutes each day

6) Start by writing, “I feel ..” and continue the sentence

7) Write quickly and keep the hand moving. Write through the negative thoughts and honor wherever your mind goes. The thoughts do not have to be connected. There does not have to be a beginning, middle and end

8) Brag, exaggerate, be happy or sad

9) Be as honest as possible. Allow gut reactions and intuitions to come forth

10) After writing, take a break; go for a walk or run

Diana, thank you for sharing with us. I must add that Diana's proceeds from her book are donated to Mayo Clinic. Kudos to you, Diana!

One person who commented last Monday on the review of  Diana's book or today on her post will receive a copy of Diana's book, HEALING WITH WORDS. Be sure to leave your email in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
Reminder--if you haven't had your mammogram this year, schedule it today! Early detection is key.

Book Review--HEALING WITH WORDS by Diana Raab

Author Diana Raab

HEALING WITH WORDS: A WRITER’S CANCER JOURNEY is a compassionate and wry self-help memoir written by award-winning prolific author, nurse, teacher, and poet Diana Raab. At the age of forty-seven, she found her life shattered by a diagnosis of early breast cancer. Five years later she faced the same diagnosis by another, seemingly unrelated and incurable cancer—multiple myeloma. The book includes the author’s experiences, reflections, poetry and journal entries, in addition to writing prompts for readers to express their own personal story.

Raab’s journals have provided a safe haven and platform to validate and express her feelings. Raab views journaling to be like a daily vitamin—in that it heals, detoxifies, and is essential for optimal health.

Cancer is always a serious subject. One in eight women will be hit by breast cancer. Three of the four people in my immediate family have been diagnosed with some type of cancer. It’s a stunning diagnosis, especially when it happens to someone you love. My husband had a rapidly spreading squamous cell cancer in the tissue between his lips and nose, for which he had invasive Mohr surgery. I was diagnosed last year with thyroid cancer and believe I’m a survivor, too, although I'm still in treatment. Our diagnoses didn’t concern us nearly as much as that of our eldest daughter just over five years ago when we learned she had Paget’s, a particularly rapid and invasive type of breast cancer. Fortunately, after learning of a friend's battle with Paget's, our daughter vetoed her primary physician’s suggestion she wait for six months to have another mammogram before doing anything and sought immediate help with her friend's surgeon. The surgeon performed a needle biopsy, which was positive. and surgery followed shortly afterwards. The oncology radiologist told our daughter that in six months her cancer would have been through her chest wall. She is now a five-year survivor, though still vigilant. Our three shared diagnoses are why our younger daughter already has cancer insurance. With her immediate family plus aunts, great aunts, grandfather, and others having had cancer, she feels she can't afford not to be prepared.

Which brings me to one of Diana Raab’s points. Ms Rabb shows readers how to take control of their health. We must know the signs and be responsible for our treatment. This book will also benefit anyone who has felt victimized by cancer. She is a nurse, writer, teacher, and married mother of three who shares her ups and downs, her challenges, and her success.

Can writing help heal? According to Ms Raab, it can and did help her. In concise, compassionate terms, she insists that writing has the power to release bottled-up emotions. Most of us strive to appear strong in the face of adversity, but those pent-up or pushed down feelings must be released in order to heal. Journaling fascilitates that healing process. Faced with a double whammy from cancer within five years, Diana Raab shows readers how to use their painful diagnosis to renew and change them in unique ways.

Another plus for Ms Raab is that she donates her proceeds from her book to Mayo Clinic. What a nice thing to do!
Return on Monday, September 27, for Diana Raab’s visit to this blog. Comment today or on the 27th to be entered in a drawing for a print copy of HEALING WITH WORDS. Please leave your email with your comment so I can contact you if you win.

And remember—get those mammies grammed!