Meditation And Other Keys To Being Happy

If you have had or are going through a moment of crisis, I invite you to stay a little while between these lines in which we will talk about different techniques that can improve your quality of life, whether you are sick or not. Some techniques that can be a perfect complement to the pharmacological treatment that you have been prescribed or, if you are not sick, to give a new impetus to your life. We will define all this within the framework of non-pharmacological therapies: meditation, reiki, music therapy …

Thus, we will take a brief tour defining these therapies and what impact they have or not on our physical and psychological well-being. Along these lines, previously, we will define what is understood by well-being and how it differs from the concept of health.

What are non-drug therapies?

The usual approach to diseases has traditionally been carried out from a pharmacological point of view.  That is to say, moments of crisis, malaise or illness have been solved with pills. Fortunately, this way of thinking has evolved: it is considered that in many cases drug treatment is necessary, although not sufficient or not the most optimal to improve the quality of life of the patient. On the contrary, practices such as meditation are increasingly used as a complement to this drug treatment.

In this way, it would be good to consider  to what extent other non-pharmacological techniques have the potential to influence the quality of life or the perception of well-being by the patient and, therefore, their physical health through the impact they produce on the immune system. And, if so, its possible implementation in specific centers or inclusion within current therapeutic programs.

Although the developments regarding these investigations are something new and, almost, even somewhat disturbing, as early as 1977 Engel proposed the need for a biopsychosocial medical model. In it he raised the idea that biological, psychological and social aspects participated in all important phenomena related to health.

What is wellness?

We can conceptualize well-being as the set of attitudes and behaviors that improve the quality of life and help to achieve optimal health status (Donatelle, Snow & Wilcox, 1999). In other words, an active process aimed at improving our lifestyle in all its dimensions.

This is where non-pharmacological therapies come into play, making the individual a main actor in their own health. Through healthy habits that result from an adequate adaptation and integration of the physical, mental, social, spiritual and emotional dimensions at any level of health or disease. Thus, you can experience well-being whether you are sick or healthy.

These findings are of great importance to both you and clinical medicine. Since, they bring us closer to new paths, offering the possibility of using psychological treatment as a form of disease prevention.

How does stress affect us?

Our personality and emotional experiences influence our health and are an important way of relating illness to psychological stress. Psychological stress affects the immune response and diseases mediated by this system.

Stressful situations for the individual such as grief, stress, divorce, can generate negative feelings, such as depression, fear, hopelessness … These situations activate the central nervous system (CNS) and the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and produce alterations in the parameters of immune reactivity, making a dent in our defenses.

Currently, there are strategies for managing the effects of stress. There are several studies that relate the application of alternative therapies that minimize the effect caused by stress and increase people’s well-being, such as music therapy, meditation, reiki, yoga, visualization, physical activity, psychotherapy, etc.

Connect with your inner self through meditation

Do you meditate? Do you doubt its effectiveness? Would you like to know what studies have been carried out with them? Now we will answer this and other questions. Although, for this, I must anticipate that there are numerous techniques that I cannot cover here, so we will focus on: reiki, music therapy, meditation, acupuncture, laughter therapy.

Regarding the main ideas extracted from the results of various investigations and their interpretation, we can synthesize the following statements:

• Non-pharmacological therapies show an increase in immunoglobulin levels that affects the well-being of the patient, either as a basic therapy or as a complementary therapy to pharmacological treatment.
• Non-drug therapies have also been shown to reduce stress levels by lowering cortisol levels.
• However, there are limitations as it is a very novel field of research that requires taking into account the individual differences between patients and the different types of disease for its application. That is why there is not enough reference documentation to carry out new studies.

• Therefore, in several studies, the result of non-pharmacological techniques can be confused with a placebo effect generated by the positive expectations of the therapist, inauthentic motivation for the patient’s own healing.

Finally, we leave you a link to a British project that aims to create meaningful playlists for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s as a new memory therapy:

http://www.playlistforlife.org.uk/#2946