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In the Biowars digital comic book, numerous themes are explored involving everything from the actual science behind biological and viral interaction, to the battle between good and evil for control of mankind.
Yet, among these themes comes an important relationship, one that until just a few decades ago had been overlooked by researchers, and has since changed the scientific community forever.
What we’re discussing, and what’s hidden within the pages of every Biowars comic, is the science behind the mind-body connection. Or in other words, the impact that your thoughts and emotions have on your body and your health.
The Council of the Mind
As the protectors of the BioCosmos, the Council of the Mind plays the role of Alex Hawking’s supreme neuron cells, whose powers span the entirety of Alex’s body in order to keep things running efficiently.
Playing the chief strategists for the rest of the BioWarriors, the Council of the Mind is able to process Alex’s subconscious thoughts, as well as all of the activities taking place inside the BioCosmos. In this way, any threat that enters the body—whether it’s a virus, microbe or cancerous omni cell—is not only quickly evaluated by the Council, but also eradicated in short order.
How does it all happen, you might ask? Well, just like in your own body, supreme neuron cells are privy to the inner workings of the body’s immune system. So that when a viral or microbial threat appears, the Council of the Mind springs into action, issuing commands to messenger nerve cells—that include Nero and Sensurian—who swiftly move throughout Alex’s body to deliver the Council’s orders.
Once these messenger cells arrive on the scene, they rally other BioWarriors who specialize in attacking these biological baddies, and combine their efforts to eliminate them.
From a scientific perspective, few things in life are as efficient as the body’s biological defense systems. But what the BioWarriors and scientists didn’t anticipate—or simply chalked up as a myth—was just how much the mind can alter the entire wellness picture.
A Look at the Mind-Body Connection
For a very long time, the idea that the body’s three main regulatory systems—the central nervous system, endocrine system and immune system—were communicating beyond simple processes seemed ludicrous. Western medicine in particular saw the nervous system as the incompetent commander, doing much of its work without any thought involved whatsoever.
In 2005, however, everything changed. During that year, a research study was performed by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, demonstrating that patients who typically were in a lot of pain could have those symptoms reduced—or taken away altogether—through placebo medications (phony medications to us normal folks).
Yes, they had just discovered the placebo effect, which has transformed the medical and psychiatric community tremendously in the past decade. And opened up new doors to other kinds of research that touches on the mind-body connection.
Since then, in addition to discovering how “tricking” ourselves into thinking we’re being cured of an illness or condition can help us become healthier, scientists have also uncovered the negative effects of thinking and emotion on the body.
In one study, UK researchers studied over 10,000 men and women who had stressful jobs in order to see if their career choice had an impact on their health. They found that those who experienced the most stress on the job were twice as likely to have metabolic syndrome—or a higher risk for heart disease and other health problems.
But the proof didn’t end there, as other studies showed that everything from socioeconomic status, hostile relationships and other types of worries can also lead to heart attacks, strokes and a wide range of serious health issues.
Psychosomatic disorders, as they’ve come to be called, have changed the way people look at both the body and the mind—or really, the relationships happening within our own BioCosmos. In the end, it comes down to knowing that how you react to things in life can either get your Council of the Mind working on your behalf, or make them much less effective at fighting off disease.
