This 10 week 10 hour online course recognises the powerful effects our emotions and attitudes have on our physical immune function and healing. It addresses lots of fascinating life altering questions and topics:
PEER REVIEWED EVIDENCE
1. Psychology and Breast Cancer
Medical, surgical and psychological Romanian study: 'Psycho-Oncology in Breast Cancer: Supporting Women Through Distress, Treatment, and Recovery' by Meoded et al (2025) published in Medicina.
Key findings:
"Integrating psycho-oncologists into standard breast cancer care improves psychological and clinical outcomes."
"By addressing emotional distress, strengthening coping mechanisms, and supporting existential resilience, psycho-oncologists contribute to a holistic, patient-centered model of oncology care."
2. Meditation reduces stress
There's an extensive literature demonstrating the benefits of meditation on preventing and recovering from disease. Here's a small selection:
a) 'Self-administered mindfulness interventions reduce stress in large, randomized controlled multi-site study' by Sparacio et al (2024) published in Nature (Nature Human Behaviour).
b) 'Exercise, yoga and meditation positive impact on those suffering from depression and anxiety disorders' by Bhatt, et al (2024) published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine.
c) 'Effectiveness of meditation programs in empirically reducing stress and amplifying cognitive function, thus boosting individual health status' by Arora & Gupta (2021) published in the Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Sciences (KLEU).
3. Positive effect of sleep on immune function
Neuroscience and neurophysiological Italian study: 'Role of sleep deprivation in immune-related disease risk and outcomes' by Garbarino et al (2021) published in Communications Biology.
Key findings:
"Modern societies are experiencing an increasing trend of reduced sleep duration, with nocturnal sleeping time below the recommended ranges for health [7 hours]."
"Epidemiological and laboratory studies have demonstrated detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on health."
"Sleep exerts an immune-supportive function, promoting host defense against infection and inflammatory insults."
"Sleep deprivation has been associated with alterations of innate and adaptive immune parameters, leading to a chronic inflammatory state and an increased risk for infectious/inflammatory pathologies, including cardiometabolic, neoplastic, autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases."
"The intestinal microbiota is also affected by sleep loss." This explains why poor sleep results in weight gain or stalled weight loss in people who are exercising and eating relatively well.
4. Irritable Bowel Disease (IBS, Colitis)
Collaborative US, German and Netherlands medical study: 'The enteric nervous system relays psychological stress to intestinal inflammation' by Schneider et al (2023) published in Cell.
Key findings:
"Psychological stress leads to exacerbation of gut inflammation"
"Stress provokes dysmotility" (gut wall during peristalsis not moving correctly)
"Mental health profoundly impacts inflammatory responses in the body - [and especially so] in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in which psychological stress is associated with exacerbated disease flares."
"We discover a critical role for the enteric nervous system (ENS) in mediating the aggravating effect of chronic stress on intestinal inflammation."
"Together, these findings offer a mechanistic explanation for the impact of the brain on peripheral inflammation, define the ENS as a relay between psychological stress and gut inflammation, and..."
"[We] suggest that stress management could serve as a valuable component of IBD care. "
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