Use Your Mind to Optimize Healing

Glen

Glenda Christiaens, PhD, RN, AHN-BC

It all starts with a thought…

Move it

• Improved thinking skills• Successful aging• Decreased risk of – Dementia– Alzheimer’s Disease– Stroke

• Decreased – Depression– Anxiety

“I am Happy”“I am Healthy”

“I am Beautiful”

Negative thoughts

Negative emotions

Stress Response

Stress Begins with a Thought

“I don’t need to think that.”

“Cancel, Cancel”

Healing Begins with a Thought

Mental Rehearsal Stimulates the Same Part of the Brain as Physical Rehearsal

Motor Cortex

Mental rehearsal activates the same motor circuits as actual rehearsal

Imagination Can Change Your Mind

College Professors

Soccer Hooligans

Use Your Mind to Optimize Healing

“I don’t need to think that”

“Cancel, cancel”

Movement

Relaxation

Positive Affirmations

Imagination

Mental Rehearsal

Book List

Begley, Sharon (2007) Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves. Ballantine Books, New York. Iacoboni, Marco (2008). Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect With Others. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York. Medina, John (2008). Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Pear Press, Seattle

www. GlendatheGoodNurse.com