Gastrointestinal cancer is closely related to people's emotions

1. The gastrointestinal tract is the largest "emotional organ" in humans

The function of the human gastrointestinal tract is controlled and regulated by the nerve and endocrine system, and the number of nerve cells it has is second only to the central nervous system (brain) and is very sensitive to external stimuli. The gastrointestinal tract is the largest "emotional organ" of human beings. The function of the human gastrointestinal tract will show "emotional" reactions with emotional fluctuations. The gastrointestinal tract is the "emotional counter-board" of human beings.

Many abnormal stimuli that can affect autonomic nerve function, such as excessive psychological pressure, overwork, worry, nervousness, anxiety, depression, fear, etc., will lead to changes in gastrointestinal motility and secretion of digestive juices, loss of appetite, upper abdominal discomfort, Gastrointestinal symptoms such as fullness, pain, belching, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, etc. Both organic and functional diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are affected by emotions, especially functional diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are more closely related to emotions and are caused by long-term bad emotions.

Gastrointestinal functional disease is the most common type of disease in gastroenterology outpatient department. Patients often have many symptoms, long medical history, no obvious organic disease in various examinations, and repeated medical treatment without long-term cure. One of the main reasons for the onset of these patients is the increased visceral sensitivity caused by long-term bad mood.

In layman's terms, increased visceral sensitivity means that the gastrointestinal tract is very sensitive to various stimuli. Patients will feel discomfort to physiological stimuli, and show a stronger reaction to noxious stimuli. For example, if they eat a little improperly, they will have obvious symptoms such as upper abdominal discomfort, which can last for a long time.

Increased visceral sensitivity is the result of visceral autonomic disorders and has a lot to do with long-term psychological adverse factors. Long-term negative emotions such as worry, tension, and anxiety can cause visceral sensitivity to increase, and the gastrointestinal tract becomes extremely sensitive, and a slight irritation will cause obvious discomfort. Moreover, gastrointestinal symptoms and bad emotions can be mutually causal and affect each other, forming a vicious circle, making the disease incurable for a long time.

According to research, most patients with functional gastrointestinal diseases are accompanied by varying degrees of depression and anxiety, especially anxiety is more common.

Anxiety is a very common emotional state. For example, when you encounter an unsatisfactory event in your life, you will feel nervous and worried. This is anxiety. This is a normal emotional reaction of people, and it is called physiological anxiety. But most people will relax soon or after the adverse event has passed, but some people are still extremely tense and worried, the severity of which is obviously inconsistent with the objective event or situation, or when it lasts for too long, it becomes a Pathological anxiety, called anxious mood state. If it is further aggravated and meets the relevant diagnostic criteria, it can be diagnosed as anxiety disorder.

Anxiety mood state is exactly a kind of pathological state between anxiety mood and anxiety disorder, is heavier than anxiety mood but lighter than anxiety disorder. People with anxiety state have obvious anxiety, irritability, irritability, nervousness, sleep disturbance, and some manifestations of autonomic disorders, such as palpitation, chest tightness, fatigue, dizziness, cold sweat, shortness of breath, etc. Breathlessness (breathlessness), but these symptoms are generally short-lived, may have certain incentives, and can be good or bad, and can be relieved through self-regulation.

For the treatment of functional gastrointestinal diseases, it is not enough to regulate the function of the gastrointestinal tract alone. It is also necessary to regulate the autonomic nerves of the patient, reduce their visceral sensitivity, and improve the patient's bad mood. Among them, the patient's self-relaxation and regulation are very important. Medication is only an aid to help patients break the vicious circle between gastrointestinal symptoms and bad emotions, and self-regulation of patients is fundamental.

2. Gastric cancer is also an "emotional disease"

The stomach is a barometer of our emotional changes. When we are in a high mood and in a good mood, our appetite will double; when we are in a bad mood, we will lose our appetite for eating.

In addition, some people are often in a state of high pressure such as emotional tension, anxiety, anger, etc., and there will be discomfort symptoms such as dull pain in the stomach. The mucosa secretes some inflammatory mediators, which in turn affects the normal contraction and peristalsis of gastric muscles.

If your mood is in a bad state every day, it means that these inflammatory mediators will continue to exist, and this consequence is very serious: it will lead to repeated episodes of gastric vasospasm and contraction, and then lead to the occurrence of chronic gastritis.

People with gastritis have a higher risk of eventually developing stomach cancer than the general population. Large-scale clinical studies in the past 10 years have confirmed that the annual incidence rate of gastric cancer in patients with gastric mucosal atrophy (a type of chronic gastritis) is 0.1%, and that in patients with gastric mucosal atrophy combined with intestinal metaplasia is 0.25%. The annual incidence of gastric cancer in patients with intraepithelial neoplasia is 0.6%. It can be seen that the stomach is an "emotional organ", and gastric cancer is also an "emotional disease".

3. Bad mood boosts tumor development

In clinical communication with patients and their families, we will find that the occurrence and development of cancer in many patients has a lot to do with their mental state. Many scientific studies have also found that the three factors of early adverse life experiences, major negative life events and carcinogenic personality can increase the risk of various cancers.

Early life experiences mainly refer to experiences in childhood and adolescence. Adversity in childhood, including poverty and deprivation, the death of a family member, the threat of serious illness, and family events such as parental divorce can increase the risk of early death in adulthood, including cancer.

Major life events mainly refer to the death of relatives, lovelorn, divorce, career, crime and other events that have a great impact on a person and last for a long time. Among them, the death of relatives is most closely related to the occurrence of cancer, and the resulting depression, despair, and pessimism that is difficult to vent are often important factors that induce cancer.

Carcinogenic personality, Professor Friedman, a famous American internal medicine expert, through long-term clinical observation, divides human personality into four types: A, B, C, and D, of which D type is also called carcinogenic personality. People with Type D personalities tend to experience more unpleasant things, including sadness, anxiety, tension, stress, and worry.

Bad mood reduces body immunity. In addition to resisting viruses and microbial invasion, immune function also includes removing cancerous cells. Anxiety, depression and other bad emotions, as well as carcinogenic personality will cause the body's immune-related cell function to decline, and some nervous system dysfunction. For example, dysfunction of the nervous system makes it easier for cells to grow out of control, mutate, and then evolve into uncontrolled cancer cells; the ability of immune NK cells responsible for killing cancer cells is weakened, leading to an increase in the survival rate of cancer cells.

Bad emotions cause nervous and endocrine dysfunction. The endocrine system plays an important role in maintaining the balance of the internal environment of the human body. Bad emotions will increase the production and release of some hormones in the body, such as adrenaline and prostacyclin, and cause damage to organs. Long-term effects will cause body damage, repair dysfunction, and promote the occurrence of some specific tumors (prostate cancer, breast cancer, etc.) .

Bad emotions can easily lead people to develop some bad habits and increase the risk of cancer. For example, people who are anxious, depressed, or irritable tend to turn to alcohol, tobacco, or overeating to relieve their emotions, all of which are risk factors for cancer.

4. Other effects of bad emotions on the body

The gastrointestinal tract is considered to be the organ that best expresses emotions, and they can predict every bit of psychological fluctuations. Among all psychosomatic diseases, gastrointestinal diseases rank first, such as gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer, and about 10% of people in the world suffer from this disease in their lifetime. Many people have this experience: Stomach pain or diarrhea when they encounter tension and anxiety, and they can't eat at all when they are stressed.

Long-term bad mood is an important reason for the formation of high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, arrhythmia and other diseases. Many patients have symptoms similar to coronary heart disease, such as palpitations, chest tightness, etc., but the diagnosis of coronary heart disease can be ruled out after examination, or the heart is abnormal, but the condition is not serious, which does not match the symptoms displayed. Most of these people are accompanied by anxiety or depression. "And if you do have uncomfortable symptoms, it will in turn aggravate these emotional disorders."

Psycho-emotional factors are more closely related to hypertension. According to the etiological research conducted by Chinese psychologists on hypertensive patients, as many as 74.5% of patients had bad personality and emotions before the disease. There are far more diseases closely related to psychological factors than the above-mentioned ones. Many diseases are related to psychological factors, but the degrees of closeness are different.

"Tired" is a word that people often talk about nowadays. Everyone agrees that fatigue is caused by overloaded physical or mental work. However, psychologists have found after long-term research that moderate work generally does not cause fatigue, especially does not cause fatigue that cannot be relieved after rest. In fact, fatigue is related to people's psychological state. Unhealthy psychological emotions, especially worry, tension, worry, etc. can lead to fatigue.

5. How should patients regulate their emotions?

(1) Move: Stretch and relax

(2) Feel it: calm the five senses

(3) Have a chat: Talk to each other

(4) Quiet: Breathe to soothe the nerves

(5) Take a turn: your attention

6. 4 ways to relieve mental stress and negative emotions

For patients with gastric cancer, they are experiencing the most difficult moment in their lives at this time, and it is impossible to have no negative emotions such as stress, tension, and anxiety. In order to help patients reduce mental stress and get rid of negative emotions, we share 4 practical methods below, hoping to benefit everyone.

(1) Find a suitable vent

(2) Let go of unnecessary emotions

(3) Actively face the reality

(4) Learn to wait patiently

7. Five steps to adjust bad emotions

Wu Tao, an expert in emotional management and a professional coach of the International Coach Federation, said that long-term bad emotional states will cause many health risks, such as cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal diseases and even cancer. Wu Tao gave a five-step method for emotional adjustment:

(1) Recognize emotions: clearly judge your own emotional state;

(2) Manage emotions (response): When emotions such as stress come, you can divert your attention by taking a deep breath, drinking a glass of water, or doing something that makes you happy, so as to relieve your emotions and calm yourself down;

(3) Clarify the problem and find the root of the problem;

(4) Find a solution to the problem;

(5) After the problem is solved, celebrate in time, encourage yourself, and strengthen the idea that "emotional problems can be solved" in your heart.

How to stay away from gastric cancer?

Diet therapy has a certain preventive effect on gastric cancer. If we eat well and eat healthy, we will reduce the occurrence of diseases. Professor Tian Yantao said that the ancients said, "A husband who is a doctor must first understand the source of the disease, know what is wrong with it, and cure it with food."