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by Sophia Brown

In the article “Biology of belief (Time)” the author states that people spend most of their time praying for health which points to the importance of spirituality/ religion that causes persons to pray. It behoves the medical fraternity and caregivers to spend time on that important factor in health as it is only the wholistic health care that can assist in the improvement medicine generally fosters. Dr Andrew Newberg stated that “ The way the brain works is so compatible with religion and spirituality that we are going to be enmeshed in both for a long time. What would the critics say?”  Additionally the article states that meditators after fifteen years have thicker frontal lobes than non meditators which leads to boosting of memories and the author spends time speaking of the frontal lobe and how the parietal lobe goes silent with intense meditation which cause humans to have the peace they speak of. He further stated that with praying and meditating enough some changes in the brain become permanent and I would imply positive changes that enhance health as no negative changes were reported.

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I agree with Mamata and really liked the idea of a "secret revolution" in healthcare discussed in the video. What a concept, to identify the patient's needs and address them I am embarrassed to say that I've used all the deflecting techniques acted in the video (changing the subject, false reassurance, talking over the patient, moving on to my agenda). Concept of listening to the patient and trying to hear what is behind the question, and returning the conversation to the patient's "court" - all these are tools that would make me a better clinician and increase patient satisfaction.

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Thank you for your post Kalpana,

I too thought it was mind blowing when I read about the roles of the lobes in the brain. I found this article “Is The Human Brain Hardwired for God?” a physician named Dr. Andrew Newberg found something surprising. He found that religious feeling is not invisible. The lobes of the brain can be seen working together to create a powerful emotional experience. “He believes that what subjects describe as their interaction with God is a shutting down of their concentrative, willful attention in order to allow this experience of transcendence to happen. For them it's the spirit of God which is moving through them. I can't prove that or disprove that on the basis of a brain scan, but I can see the changes that are going on in the brain while they're engaged in this very, very powerful and very deep spiritual practice... It certainly looks like the way the brain is put together makes it very easy for human beings to have religious and spiritual experiences” (Erickson, 2018).

Erickson, M. (2012, June 03). Is The Human Brain Hardwired for God? Retrieved June 3, 2018, from http://bigthink.com/think-tank/is-the-brain-hardwired-for-religion

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Hello Andrij,

Marci Campbell’s project with churches really spoke to me as a nutritionist. There are great strategies that can be used to promote health and prevent disease by simple means and the use of the churches' own human resources. The fact that the church played a primary role on the program’s success shows the importance of strengthening it as a social support network.

It reminded me of the method Jesus used while here on earth.

“Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness.” Matthew 9:35

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Amr Abdelaziz.
I agree with Sarathy , indeed, if we have a positive mind and healthy attitude, we can fix our health and our life in a positive way, we have tools now to prove it, mediation and prayer will stimulate and enhance our frontal lobe and power down the parietal lobe, so it will reflect on the our behavior and our health as well to gain inner peace.

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Reading from the Spiritual Assessment- Koenig (HINA)

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Reading from the Spiritual Assessment- Koenig (HINA)

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I personally liked the type of questions mentioned in the Fact Spiritual History Tool. This is because it meets the criteria of critical spiritual history set by Harold Koenig in the year 2007. A spiritual history needs to be brief and easy to remember with all the appropriate information obtained at its end. It should be patient-centred and should be valid to be approved by experts. Mark LaRocca-Pitts did a very good job in defining questions that form a hybrid spiritual assessment tool which fits well to the needs of a professional chaplain in an acute care set up. Even though it does not qualify technically to be used by us , it looks quite useful. This may take 5 to 10 minutes for an initial interview with the patient. It helps healthcare clinicians who believe  their practice includes addressing spiritual needs, such as providing spiritual encouragement or prayer and making referrals to chaplains.

A spiritual history focuses less on what a person believes and more on how the person’s faith and/or beliefs function to help them cope positively with their illness crisis – Harold Koenig

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Quote from "The Biology of Belief" regarding Prof Marci Campbell’s work in the Body and Soul project.(Andrij Ferguson)

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Quote from "The Biology of Belief" regarding Prof Marci Campbell’s work in the Body and Soul project.(Andrij Ferguson)

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‘To skeptics who conclude that the churches have played a secondary role in the success of the programs — as a mere venue for secular health counseling — Campbell points out that in her studies, the most effective pitches came not from the nutritionists but from the pulpit. "The body is a temple, and the connection was made between the physical body and religious and spiritual well-being," she says.’

Campbell’s comments make me think of health care professionals’ struggles in engaging patient compliance and involvement in treatment. Can we do a better job identifying a patient’s deepest source of motivation and then use that unique meaningful paradigm to more effectively facilitate healthy lifestyle change or illness behaviour? Perhaps it is out of our scope to do so, but as Koenig wrote in chapter 2 of our readings the other week, it may be the place for healthcare system- faith community partnerships.

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Silent revolution in health care as explained by Dr.Christina Puchalski in the video is inspiring and this can promote care and support to the suffering person as a whole. The importance of healthcare chaplaincy and spiritual assessment is well described in the article. The TIME article gives us a valuable information about the effect of meditation and spiritual practices on different parts of brain. The study conducted by Andrew Newberg using SPECT showed decrease in parietal lobe activity and thickening of frontal lobe which gives a scientific basis for the same.

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The Biology of Belief(Kalpana)It’s so very interesting to know how God has wonderfully made human beings. The role of different lobes of brain in response to spirituality is also very mind blowing like parietal lobe and its relation to faith. The spiritual centers are located in the brain and scientific evidences prove that healing and faith are like hand and glove. I know in many healing crusades where preacher says by faith receive your healing miracle now. Dr. Gail Ironson states that spirituality predicts for better disease control. I agree and I know people in the community whose defense mechanism to fight against dreadful condition increased and their cortisol level, BP became normal through praise, worship and prayer.The spiritual wiring and compatibility of brain with religion and spirituality are beyond human understanding and control. What sick person could understand is that faith mixed with prayers, meditation, worship and fellowship bring changes in the behavior patterns of sickness which is not natural but supernatural. How speaking in tongues which is an incomprehensible language takes over the function of frontal lobe and loses oneself from every earthly connection and puts a sick person in different dimension in spirituality, is beyond human comprehension. God works in mysterious ways!!

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The Biology of Belief(Kalpana)It’s so very interesting to know how God has wonderfully made human beings. The role of different lobes of brain in response to spirituality is also very mind blowing like parietal lobe and its relation to faith. The spiritual centers are located in the brain and scientific evidences prove that healing and faith are like hand and glove. I know in many healing crusades where preacher says by faith receive your healing miracle now. Dr. Gail Ironson states that spirituality predicts for better disease control. I agree and I know people in the community whose defense mechanism to fight against dreadful condition increased and their cortisol level, BP became normal through praise, worship and prayer.The spiritual wiring and compatibility of brain with religion and spirituality are beyond human understanding and control. What sick person could understand is that faith mixed with prayers, meditation, worship and fellowship bring changes in the behavior patterns of sickness which is not natural but supernatural. How speaking in tongues which is an incomprehensible language takes over the function of frontal lobe and loses oneself from every earthly connection and puts a sick person in different dimension in spirituality, is beyond human comprehension. God works in mysterious ways!!

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I really enjoyed the article from Time magazine.  It was interesting to me to read how the frontal lobe increased as people prayed and/or meditated. Dr. Neil Nedley in his Depression and Anxiety Recovery Program states that "if you have a frontal lobe, you have faith."  The frontal lobe is where all our choices are made, as well as emotional expression, problem solving, memory, language, and judgement.  The frontal lobe is where our spiritual choices are made.  It was interesting in our Medicine, religion and Spirituality reading, how those who did not have a religious life, were more likely to pass away sooner than those who did have a religious life. The Time article mentioned that as well. There is a link between how our body responds to having a religious life and illness. This is something that we need to think about more when working with our patients.

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Thoughts and reflections from this week study (Ogwu Susan)

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Thoughts and reflections from this week study (Ogwu Susan)

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The study this week throws more light on the reason why meeting the spirituality needs of patient  is very important because it draws our attention to a better understanding of the concept of delivering healthcare and patient centered care.  To me I feel it answers this very important question: “How do I understand you better so I can assist you”

To assess a patient’s spirituality need, we need to do a screen, history or assessment as the case may be and in doing that we have to observe some guidelines. Some of which involves respect and providing a comfortable forum for patient to share their values and belief systems, focusing on how this beliefs helps them to cope with the illness. In order words our responsibility in doing this assessment is not to fix the patients’ needs but to identify and refer the patient to the appropriate source where they can get help. We are to partner with patient in their time of suffering by using this tools to discover these needs that some of them may not even realize is the source of their illness.

We do not make choices for them but we are walking through the journey of illness with them by asking pertinent questions as given in the different types of spirituality genre (e.g. HOPE) to help them discover and tap into their healing potential. The biology of belief shows us how the brain contains a lot of spiritual wiring that helps us understand why  spiritual activities such as prayer, meditation and worship have so much effect on the body.  For instance in the video, we saw an example of a doctor that partnered (he asked what is most favorable to you at this moment) with a patient through music and mediation to achieve peace and the patient was able to find sleep, this is in contrast to the traditional method of medical practice that focuses only on the physical dimension where the patient is treated like a soulless entity, not making that vital connection that is needed to understand patients.

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"Such exactitude does not dissuade believers — not surprising, given the centrality of prayer to faith. But there is one thing on which both camps agree: when you're setting up your study, it matters a great deal whether subjects know they're being prayed for. Give them even a hint as to whether they're in the prayer group or a control group and the famed placebo effect can blow your data to bits."

This quote brought a smile to my face. As a scientist and theologian, I belong to both camps at different times. When debating or engaging in argument, my most difficult standpoint s from the theological camp. People are more prone to listen to facts, data and studies. But when we discuss the positive outcomes and results that belief and spirituality can bring to health, everyone is compelled to listen. This entire article was a delight to read, and the gist of it must be shared with believers and skeptics alike. We all seek health and happiness.

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It's All in Your Head (Mette). The article by Jeffrey Kluger  "Biology of Belief."  

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It's All in Your Head (Mette). The article by Jeffrey Kluger  "Biology of Belief."  

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This week's reading provided comfort, hope, curiosity, and depth and enriched how I think about the relationship between the mind and the body. Having studied and practiced Buddhist meditation for almost two decades, Kluger's article especially brought perspective and affirmation. My conclusion based on this week's reading is that religion and spirituality is not a luxury but a necessity in life. The interdependence of body, spirit, and mind are clearly described by both Koenig, Kluger. We can confidently conclude that religious and spiritual practice and affiliation are essential pillars of HEALTH care and an important path of transformation.

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My first thought when I read the article was that it was quite interesting and funny at the same time. One thing that I found particularly interesting was the fact that the frontal lobes bulked up when people meditated, thus improving memory.

Another thing I found intriguing was the fact that people who give help to other parishioners fared better than those who received it. Though I have always known that people who believe there is meaning in everything they do, live substantially longer.

One thing that surprised me was the North Carolina black churches United for better health trial. I have always known that Churches are the pillars of the community and are in a position t do a lot of good, but I did not expect the program to become so successful that it would be made into a national project.

I agree with Sloan that the chaplain’s job is to explore the patient’s values and help the patient come to a decision

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"It is all in your health"

I am really enjoying reading the book. I was expecting that Spirituality would influence mental health. However, I was surprised when I read about immunity. There were a few things that shook me. Anxiety being more common in Church going people is one of them. However, it makes sense. I have seen girls put more effort into deciding an outfit for the church than to listen to the sermon. Depression is a very common condition which is not very recognized in a lot of societies. many people like calling it a disease of the affluent class. This is also not true. There is not enough focus on mental health and as a result, it is not given enough importance and people suffering from mental health problems are constantly judged and labelled "crazy"

Immunity and spirituality was surprising. But to think about it, it does make sense. If you're positive you feel positive and the body feels positive and there is a better functioning of the body.

Even with so much advancement in science, mental health is still misunderstood.

​While everything said and this, is my plan for the weekend 😂😂

Shikha

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 Borko-The Biology of Belief quote: "Doctors, patients and pastors battling disease already know that help comes in a whole lot of forms. It's the result, not the source, that counts the most."

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 Borko-The Biology of Belief quote: "Doctors, patients and pastors battling disease already know that help comes in a whole lot of forms. It's the result, not the source, that counts the most."

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I like this quote as it effectively puts everything into perspective. We as health professionals are here for our patients and should utilize all the resources we can to help them.

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The Biology of Belief by Jeffrey Kluger.Amr Abdelaziz

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The Biology of Belief by Jeffrey Kluger.Amr Abdelaziz

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“Health, by definition, is the sine qua non of everything else. If you're dead, serenity is academic. So we convince ourselves that while our medicine is strong and our doctors are wise, our prayers may heal us too.”After reading this article, I noticed the meaning of the health is close to miller’s definition or the same but in indirect way as Miller said the true health is not only absence of suffering or the presence of the function but is not enough to get those two factors without peace, inner peace to give the life meaning.The article mentioned something close to this meaning “We pray for peace; we meditate for serenity; we chant for wealth. We travel to Lourdes in search of a miracle; we go to Mecca to show our devotion; we eat hallucinogenic mushrooms to attain transcendent vision and gather in church basements to achieve its sober opposite. But there is nothing we pray — or chant or meditate — for more than health”From my understanding, the health issue is a big concern and a big factor in our life as we look for a true health; we use our prayers and our meditation to reach the ultimate inner peace which is considering as main stone to get healed, also Miller mentioned that before, and he said the true healer has to address the patient from different facets not only physically or from the illness or disease, but has to address issue of coherence which is called also inner peace and enhance the emotional, spiritual, mental capacity to function.One more point attracted me, when the author is talking about the health definition and the possibility to get healed, he mentioned three factors to get healed and get the health back, proper medicine after proper diagnosis from wise doctor and our prayers, I think he is so close to the meaning of  the true healer.

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"Our brains and bodies contain an awful lot of spiritual wiring. Even if there's a scientific explanation for every strand of it, that doesn't mean we can't put it to powerful use. And if one of those uses can make us well, shouldn't we take advantage of it?"

The fact that there may be harmony between science and spirituality only encourages me to further pursue it (spirituality), because it substantiates the reality of interconnectivity, and by practicing my faith I (or anyone who so chooses!) benefit in every area; physically, spiritually, and emotionally.  My faith then becomes reality.

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Response to Spiritual Healthcare (Gutierrez)

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Response to Spiritual Healthcare (Gutierrez)

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In the short video Spiritual Healthcare, Dr. Christina Puchalski, Director of the George Washington University Institute for Spirituality and Health stated, “You can’t practice excellent patient care if you don’t practice excellent spiritual care. It’s not so much creating health care systems, but creating caring systems of health.”

Hospitals nowadays feel like a world of machines and electronics--soulless and impersonal which often leads patients to feel unconnected. The practice of spirituality in health care adds a dimension of personal and whole patient care not simply treating an illness. Patients, no matter what state of health, will always appreciate the healing element that comes from warmth and caring, which cannot be received from medications and treatment plans. This not only helps the patient, but it benefits the hospital as well. Scoring high allows for more funding for the hospital.

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I was impressed this week by the work that Mount Sinai Medical Center and George Washington Institute are doing to integrate spiritual along with medical care. Dr. Christina Puchalski stated, “you can’t practice excellent patient care if you don’t practice excellent spiritual care, it’s not so much creating healthcare systems but creating caring systems of health.” The benefits are numerous and are both mutual for the patient and the institution when spiritual care is closely linked with physical treatment. Not only does spiritual care have an impact on patients spiritual emotions and experience at the hospital but it also has an impact on the material. Hospital scores from patient satisfaction greatly influences how much federal funding it will receive.  Spiritual care a silent revolution in health care.

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Spirituality responds to patient needs. The exocentric (from within looking out) viewpoint can address the question such as “why this is happening to me”. Dr. Christina Puchalski, head of George Washington University Medical School’s Institute for Spirituality and Health, say that that when spiritual care is addressed in healthcare it helps to contribute to better patient satisfaction scores. Dr. Puchalski believes chaplain visits actually improve the patient’s medical condition and cited cases that showed improvement in patients, over a period of time, with cardiac heart failure. Healthcare is not only about the illness but the spiritual needs as well. Dr. Puchalski stated that “you can’t practice excellent patient care unless you practice excellent spiritual care. It is not so much creating excellent health systems but creating caring systems of health.” Today, spiritual healthcare is becoming a silent revolution to improving healthcare as more hospitals are putting emphasis on the spiritual care of its patients.

Reference

Religion & Ethics News Weekly. (2016). Spiritual Healthcare. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97d1JMKTuk4

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"When used as an informal checklist, it serves as a tacit guide around which a clinician can organise a conversation in order to obtain clinically relevant information pertaining to a patient’s spiritual well-being."
With Memorable acronym for all the assessment tool, it is readily available for all the clinicians.
Pugi

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One of the things that struck me the most from this weeks readings was the Time Magazine article and how the author related the pill placebo effect and belief in God!

"If belief in a pill can be so powerful, belief in God and the teachings of religion — which touch devout people at a far more profound level than mere pharmacology — ought to be even more so."

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Illustration by Christian Northeast for TIME

Most folks probably couldn't locate their parietal lobe with a map and a compass. For the record, it's at the top of your head — aft of the frontal lobe, fore of the occipital lobe, north of the temporal lobe. What makes the parietal lobe special is not where it lives but what it does — particularly concerning matters of faith.

If you've ever prayed so hard that you've lost all sense of a larger world outside yourself, that's your parietal lobe at work. If you've ever meditated so deeply that you'd swear the very boundaries of your body had dissolved, that's your parietal too. There are other regions responsible for making your brain the spiritual amusement park it can be: your thalamus plays a role, as do your frontal lobes. But it's your parietal lobe — a central mass of tissue that processes sensory input — that may have the most transporting effect. ( Read "Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs".)

Needy creatures that we are, we put the brain's spiritual centers to use all the time. We pray for peace; we meditate for serenity; we chant for wealth. We travel to Lourdes in search of a miracle; we go to Mecca to show our devotion; we eat hallucinogenic mushrooms to attain transcendent vision and gather in church basements to achieve its sober opposite. But there is nothing we pray — or chant or meditate — for more than health.

Health, by definition, is the sine qua non of everything else. If you're dead, serenity is academic. So we convince ourselves that while our medicine is strong and our doctors are wise, our prayers may heal us too.

Here's what's surprising: a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that faith may indeed bring us health. People who attend religious services do have a lower risk of dying in any one year than people who don't attend. People who believe in a loving God fare better after a diagnosis of illness than people who believe in a punitive God. No less a killer than AIDS will back off at least a bit when it's hit with a double-barreled blast of belief. "Even accounting for medications," says Dr. Gail Ironson, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Miami who studies HIV and religious belief, "spirituality predicts for better disease control." ( Read "Finding God on YouTube.")

It's hard not to be impressed by findings like that, but a skeptic will say there's nothing remarkable — much less spiritual — about them. You live longer if you go to church because you're there for the cholesterol-screening drive and the visiting-nurse service. Your viral load goes down when you include spirituality in your fight against HIV because your levels of cortisol — a stress hormone — go down first. "Science doesn't deal in supernatural explanations," says Richard Sloan, professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and author of Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine. "Religion and science address different concerns."

That's undeniably true — up to a point. But it's also true that our brains and bodies contain an awful lot of spiritual wiring. Even if there's a scientific explanation for every strand of it, that doesn't mean we can't put it to powerful use. And if one of those uses can make us well, shouldn't we take advantage of it? "A large body of science shows a positive impact of religion on health," says Dr. Andrew Newberg, a professor of radiology, psychology and religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of Penn's Center for Spirituality and the Mind. "The way the brain works is so compatible with religion and spirituality that we're going to be enmeshed in both for a long time."

It's All in Your Head
"enmeshed in the brain" is as good a way as any to describe Newberg's work of the past 15 years. The author of four books, including the soon-to-be-released How God Changes Your Brain, he has looked more closely than most at how our spiritual data-processing center works, conducting various types of brain scans on more than 100 people, all of them in different kinds of worshipful or contemplative states. Over time, Newberg and his team have come to recognize just which parts of the brain light up during just which experiences.

When people engage in prayer, it's the frontal lobes that take the lead, since they govern focus and concentration. During very deep prayer, the parietal lobe powers down, which is what allows us to experience that sense of having loosed our earthly moorings. The frontal lobes go quieter when worshippers are involved in the singular activity of speaking in tongues — which jibes nicely with the speakers' subjective experience that they are not in control of what they're saying.

Read "Top 10 Religion Stories".

Read "Top 10 Scientific Discoveries".

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Most folks probably couldn't locate their parietal lobe with a map and a compass. For the record, it's at the top of your head - aft of the frontal lobe, fore of the occipital lobe, north of the temporal lobe.

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Health and spirituality of fasting (Ashwin)

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Health and spirituality of fasting (Ashwin)

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The article by Jeffrey Kluger was informative and laced with a subtle humor- thoroughly enjoyed it.
Being a practitioner and beneficiary of fasting for health reasons, I could completely relate to this paragraph below. It is an interesting thought that our smart forefathers might have brought religion as a means to inculcate health, fasting being a wonderful example.
" One of the staples of both traditional wellness protocols and traditional religious rituals is the cleansing fast, which is said to purge toxins in the first case and purge sins or serve other pious ends in the second. There are secular water fasts, tea fasts and grapefruit fasts, to say nothing of the lemon, maple-syrup and cayenne-pepper fast. Jews fast on Yom Kippur; Muslims observe Ramadan; Catholics have Lent; Hindus give up food on 18 major holidays. Done right, these fasts may lead to a state of clarity and even euphoria. This, in turn, can give practitioners the blissful sense that whether the goal of the food restriction is health or spiritual insight, it's being achieved. Maybe it is, but there's also chemical legerdemain at work."

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Thought from the reading- The Biology of Belief  (Jacqlene)

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Thought from the reading- The Biology of Belief  (Jacqlene)

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As this quote very well explains how the body, mind and spirit heals, we can only imagine how one can be content and joyful without a spiritual life. Faith can indeed get us good health and spirituality has shown to be a better predictor for disease control. It is proven that our brains and body are wired with a lot of spirituality. Our body is so beautifully created by the Almighty that no matter how much we study, we will always lack some knowledge about it.

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Some guidelines recommended when taking a spiritual history include
-Always show respect for patients expression of faith or belief. Imposing one's faith on another is never the goal.
This was also mentioned in prior weeks readings. It is important to remember that collecting information on patients spirituality is not help them not change them.
-Spiritual history focuses less on what a person believes and more on how what they believe works to helps them cope
Health practitioners should focus on the bigger picture of helping patients best meet their needs.
-When clinician show interests in patients spiritual path it provides therapeutic intervention.
Interest should be shown even if patient does not use spirituality or faith to cope. When we provide patients a space free of judgement and full of respect, it makes their journey to health smoother.

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It is not so much about building healthcare systems it is more about building caring systems of health.

This statement stood out to me in the video on spiritual healthcare. They spoke to the idea that we practice on manaquins and robots but we must look at the person in front of us. Again addressing the whole body, mind, social, and spiritual aspect of what makes a person whole. The Spiritual team is and should be in place to assist in guiding the healthcare approach. I also looked back on the readings from last week in Harold Koenigs boot in the yes those with greater religion and faith have greater ability to deal with stress and anxiety as well as tend to have better mental health and avoid unhealthy lifestyles which also attribute the a greater ability to fight the physical illness they face. what struck me and made me think is that yes a strong faith and good religious backing are very helpful in decreasing stress and anxiety. I liked what the good
mentioned about the people who has certain forms of religious expression actually had a greater not lower anxiety. in some with serious medical illness. This stood out to me in that we as humans need to have a good balance and yes having a strong faith and religious belief is helpful we as patients and healthcare providers need to understand that it is not God punishing us. I believe it was some studies done among women with gynecological cancers demonstrated that they were abandoned by there religious communities, or even god. It is this section that made me think that having balance and faith are very important. These patients I feel would have strongly benefited from use of the spiritual team to help them realize that the healing occurs not just in the physical but also to look to God and the community of the church to shine light and ease the anxiety and build a stronger well being.

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The quote from reading: “It’s all in your head”.

According to Dr. Koenig spirituality can be in any forms like, focusing on music, transcendental meditation and practicing religion. As a health care provider, we should know the different process of spirituality screen, spirituality history and spiritual assessment.

In spiritualty assessment, there are lot of tools, I am interested in HOPE since the word itself has some positive impact.

H-  Sources of hope: Looking to find out what is in life to give some support at difficulty times.

O- Organized religion: Belonging to some religion, does it help you or which aspects of religion is helpful to you

P- Personal spirituality/Practices: What aspects of religion is more helpful to your personality

E- Effects on medical care: Are there any specific restrictions as a health care provider we should know.

This will give us enough information to help people who are in real need.

Dr. Newberg find out faith indeed brings us health. This can be positively impacted by practicing meditation or prayer. By doing meditation or prayer, there is a scientific evidence on, reducing cortisol thereby reducing stress and increasing relaxation response. This is achieved by biochemical change in body- increase in Nitrous Oxide (NO), decreased in VO2, decrease in blood pressure, this will have positive impact on cardio vascular system, protective immune function.¹ This is what I understood, when we fix our mind positively everything will happen positively in our life. This was proved by doing prayer /meditation, our frontal cortex is thickening, Parietal lobe is powering down, so it’s all good. So, if someone is falling sick, we need to address their spiritual need to raise the positive hope.

Reference:

1.     Buttle H. Measuring a Journey without Goal: Meditation, Spirituality, and Physiology. Biomed Res Int 2015; 2015:891671

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As I read the article to “The Biology of Belief” the fact that “when people engage in prayer, it's the frontal lobes that take the lead, since they govern focus and concentration" really caught my attention. "During very deep prayer, the parietal lobe powers down, which is what allows us to experience that sense of having loosed our earthly moorings. The frontal lobes go quieter when worshippers are involved in the singular activity. Pray and meditate enough and some changes in the brain become permanent. Long-term meditators have thicker frontal lobes than non-meditators. People who describe themselves as highly spiritual tend to exhibit an asymmetry in the thalamus, a feature that other people can develop after just eight weeks of training in meditation skills which changes the brain further. Better-functioning frontal lobes help boost memory. In one study, Newberg scanned the brains of people who complained of poor recall before they underwent meditation training, then scanned them again after. As the lobes bulked up, memory improved”(Kluger, 2009). I was very much amazed to have read this information.

Reference:
Kluger, J. (2009, February 12). The Biology of Belief. Retrieved May 31, 2018, from http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1879179,00.html

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Gail Elliott
My first response to this article was to the wonderful writing style of the author. Jeffrey Klugger drew me in with his humorous approach. "Most folks probably can't locate their parietal lobe with a map and a compass..." My mind said, "AHA, this could be funny while being educational." He clearly stated that faith may bring us health then identified a few related items: cortisol levels decrease for those who have faith, even decreasing the viral load for those who have HIV. The statement that "our brains and bodies have an awful lot of spiritual wiring, why shouldn't we take advantage of it?" We can develop a thicker frontal lobe as a byproduct of prayer. The parietal lobe powering down during deep prayer explains the drifting free of earth. The frontal lobes quiet when speaking in tongues. Those who have meditated 15 years or more have thicker fontal lobes which boost memory. The author uses a muscle building term "bulking up" the frontal lobes and improving memory. This was a thoroughly enjoyable and educational article which I will enjoy sharing with family and friends!

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Pure Religion Brings Serenity, Composure and Strength (Memory)

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Pure Religion Brings Serenity, Composure and Strength (Memory)

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"Pure and undefiled religion is not a sentiment, but the doing of works of mercy and love. This religion is necessary to health and happiness. it enters the polluted  soul temple and with a scourge drives out the sinful intruders. Taking the throne, it consecrates all by its presence, illuminating the heart with the bright beams of the Sun of righteousness. It opens the windows of the soul heavenward, letting in the sunshine of God's love.  With it comes serenity and composure. Physical, mental and moral strength increase, because the atmosphere of heaven as a living, active agency fills the soul. Christ is formed within, the hope of glory ,"(White, 1901).

Reference
White, E. G. (1901). Mind, Character & Personality. Review and Herald. Nashville, TN: Southern Publishing Association.

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This week’s reading reminds me of a quote by Thomas Aquinas, “...although the body is not the immediate subject of grace, still the effect of grace flows into the body…” It makes sense that religion and faith has physical effects. While we can’t explain some of the mechanisms of how faith works on the body, we can see how others can. There are natural health laws that produce natural results in health, such as eating more fruits and vegetables, getting enough sleep, exercise, fresh air, and sunlight result in better health. As for trusting in God improving some areas of physical health, that makes sense to some degree.

Having faith and trust in God brings peace and hope. This translates to better mental attitudes and less stress, a key driver of inflammation and disease in our bodies. Here is another quote that I think speaks to the power of the mind in the development of illness in the body. “The condition of the mind has much to do with the health of the physical system. If the mind is free and happy, under a consciousness of right doing and a sense of satisfaction in causing happiness to others, it will create a cheerfulness that will react upon the whole system, causing freer circulation of the blood and a toning up of the entire body. The blessing of God is a healer, and those who are abundant in benefiting others will realize that wondrous blessing in their hearts and lives.”

References

White, E.G. (1940). Counsels on Stewardship. Washington: Review and Herald Publishing Assn.

White, E.G. (1876). Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4. Washington: Review and Herald Publishing Assn.

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Thoughts on TIME article (The Biology of Belief)- Alan

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Thoughts on TIME article (The Biology of Belief)- Alan

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"Long-term meditators — those with 15 years of practice or more — appear to have thicker frontal lobes than nonmeditators. People who describe themselves as highly spiritual tend to exhibit an asymmetry in the thalamus — a feature that other people can develop after just eight weeks of training in meditation skills."  This article was extremely fascinating in that it showed how spirituality can not only affect physical health (cardiovascular health, immune health, reduce risk for other medical diseases), but also affect physical changes in the brain. As the authors stated, improved memory is a consequence of improved frontal lobe function and size, due to the practice of meditation. This has huge implications not only as a health perspective, but also increased productivity and efficiency in both the home and workplace. Our brain demonstrates the phenomenon of neuroplasticity, and this refers to the ability of the brain to physically change and adapt due to external stimuli. Knowing this helps us understand the cognitive benefits of spirituality, particularly meditation, and further reinforces the notion that the benefits of practising spirituality play a crucial role in executive function.

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Spiritual screen, history and assessment ( My understanding from the article) - Kalai.

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Spiritual screen, history and assessment ( My understanding from the article) - Kalai.

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After reading the article, I understood the distinction between the Spiritual screening, history and assessment.
Spiritual Screen: Standard one or two questions used to determine patient's faith, religious or cultural needs - like diet, observances and restrictions. These information doesn't change during the medical treatment.
Spiritual History: More involved and very dynamic based on the patient's beliefs and faith and personalized. Need for history collection as the patient's condition changes the beliefs might change because of
change in coping strategies.
Spiritual assessment: More in-depth assessment to evaluate the patient's belief and identif potential problems and need for an appropriate treatment.
Among the available spirituality assessment tools, I like FACT tool. It has both Spiritual history and assessment components.
F - Fatih
A - Active/Available/Applicable
C- Coping/comfort
T- Treatment plan.

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Reflection on Time Article: Mike                                                                                         We learn in school that changes in brain anatomy and physiology can have an effect on cognitive output such as after stroke, with Alzheimer’s disease and possibly in depression.  In the Time article from this week’s readings, the work of Dr. Andrew Newburg demonstrates the opposite, that cognitive input through prayer and meditative practices can affect activity in certain regions of the brain as measured by PET scan.  He also found that prayer and meditation could thicken and change brain structure with prolonged practice.  His fascinating work is further explained in the TEDxPENN talk linked below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SJCDLHyeqk&feature=youtu.be

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Reflection on Time Article: Mike                                                                                         We learn in school that changes in brain anatomy and physiology can have an effect on cognitive output such as after stroke, with Alzheimer’s disease and possibly in depression.  In the Time article from this week’s readings, the work of Dr. Andrew Newburg demonstrates the opposite, that cognitive input through prayer and meditative practices can affect activity in certain regions of the brain as measured by PET scan.  He also found that prayer and meditation could thicken and change brain structure with prolonged practice.  His fascinating work is further explained in the TEDxPENN talk linked below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SJCDLHyeqk&feature=youtu.be