The Internal Brain and Homeostasis
In the world of natural healing the word homeostasis is a term often heard. Homeostasis pertains to stability and balance. It is the process of the body properly compensating for environmental stress so that internal stability is maintained. It is keeping the body in balance. In the body it is the internal brain that accomplishes this function. By internal brain I mean that part that is not the cortex or surface area. There are many parts of the internal brain with many names such as the thalamus, the hypothalamus, the basal ganglia, hippocampus, etc. but for our purposes the term internal brain will suffice.
If the internal brain is not functioning correctly then the communication system of the body is interfered with and the coordination (and healing) of the organs and tissues will suffer. Ordinarily messages come in from all of the different tissues and organs of the body, to the internal brain where they are received and processed.
The primary site of incoming message reception is the mid-brain region called the thalamus. The messages are scrutinized and compared with other messages and then are appropriately responded to. Picture a secretary named Thalamus (her parents must not have liked her) sitting at a desk with a telephone switchboard. She answers the calls, writes down the messages and gives them to the proper executives to look at. The executives determine the proper thing to be done in response to the message, even if it is simply “keep doing what you’re doing”. They give the response to the person in charge of out going messages and this person sends the messages back to the appropriate organ as to what should be done.
Here’s an example. The body walks outside into the cold. The skin relays a message that the external temperature just dropped 15 degrees to secretary Thalamus. The Secretary Thalamus writes down a message “external temperature dropped down 15 degrees” and forwards it to that portion of the internal brain (internal brain executive) in charge of organs that maintain body temperature. This internal brain executive looks at the message and writes a response saying “thyroid needs to produce 3 units more thyroxin to burn more fuel and make more heat in the body” (he may also send messages to the arteries or other tissues involved in temperature regulation). This message is released via the outgoing message secretary to the thyroid, the thyroid produces 3 units more thyroxin and the body produces enough heat to exactly compensate for the colder temperatures outside. The internal body remains stable.
Now lets say for example, the body’s incoming call secretary wasn’t functioning well. Maybe secretary Thalamus has a cold and her ears are stopped up. The body steps outside, the skin sends the message that the external temperature dropped 15 degrees and secretary Thalamus receives it. Because she isn’t well however, and her ears are stopped up, she hears the temperature dropped 50 degrees instead of 15 degrees. She relays this to the internal brain executive. The internal brain looks at the message and in response sends a message for the thyroid to crank up the thyroxin production by 12 units. Of course this is too much, and the body gets hot and feverish and the heart races and the nervous system shoots up and all kinds of problems develop.
Because the internal brain is in charge of regulating all of the organs of the body, any organ may be overproducing or under producing and causing problems even though technically there may be nothing wrong with the organs themselves. They are just receiving wrong messages. In the above example I chose the incoming message secretary known as the Thalamus for illustration purposes, but you can see how if any of the “executives” or parts of the internal brain are malfunctioning and not properly duplicating the messages and responding properly problems will develop.
Internal brain regulation and hormones have an intimate relationship, hormones being the body’s other regulatory system. In fact there are some messenger chemicals in the brain that are also found in the blood. In the brain they are called neurotransmitters. In the blood they are called hormones. Nevertheless, they are the exact same chemical. Many of the major hormones in the blood are also ruled by internal brain centers. An additional factor in body regulation that cannot be ignored is the mind. The mind has a direct effect on the body via hormonal and internal brain responses. An attractive member of the opposite sex may cause responses in the body through this area of the brain. A picture of an attractive member of the opposite sex may also cause body responses. A mental picture of an attractive member of the opposite sex may also cause body responses. Exact mechanics of this are unimportant for our purposes, it is sufficient to point out that the mind can effect this system. Seeing that this is true a healthy, well functioning internal brain circuitry and balanced hormones may provide some measure of defense against mental stresses that impose themselves upon the body. Indeed supplying the correct vitamins and nutrients to support and heal internal brain malfunction has allowed many to successfully come off harmful psychiatric drugs without ill effects.
To doctors that use a muscle testing procedure, the internal brain function is an area of special concern. The neural circuitry that is used in the performance of the muscle testing procedure makes use of the internal brain circuitry. If the internal brain has an area of malfunction and the doctor doesn’t check for and correctly address this before muscle testing, the muscle test response may not be totally accurate. Patients with internal brain malfunction may prove to be challenging for the muscle testing doctor and the doctor must be ever vigilant for possible internal brain malfunction and interference.
Health problems in general, develop when either of two things happen in the body. They develop when the organs and tissues aren’t working correctly and they develop when organs and tissues are not working together. When both occur natural stability is maintained and homeostasis is achieved. If you have health problems that are missing effective solutions call (260 ) 459-6160 (Ft. Wayne) or (773) 929-3964 (Chicago).
