Researchers from Tel Aviv University discovered something remarkable in people who had been vaccinated and had used positive thinking to stimulate the reward system in their brain: their immune systems produced more antibodies after vaccination than those of others.
One of the researchers says in the British newspaper The Guardian that this has been proven for the first time in humans ‘that the effectiveness of vaccination increases if you learn how to activate the reward system in your brain’.
Placebo-effect
Such a reaction had already been demonstrated in animals. And through studies into the placebo effect, among other things, we also knew that people are not insensitive to these types of stimuli.
For the Israeli study, participants were taught various mental strategies that allowed them to activate certain areas in their brains. After four training sessions, they received a vaccination against the contagious hepatitis B virus. In the following weeks, their blood was regularly checked for antibodies against the infection.
Nice things
The strongest effect was measured among participants who had positive thoughts: they had optimistic expectations about the future and imagined that nice things were going to happen. In doing so, they called on the so-called ventral-tegmental area in their brains. Dopamine is produced there, the substance that gives you a good feeling when, for example, you have fun or have successfully completed something.
More research must show how the results can be applied in practice. The researchers emphasize that positive thinking alone is not enough. “This approach is at most an additional means that can strengthen the immune response to vaccination. It is not a replacement for vaccinations or usual medical care.”
Intestines also play a very important role in our immune system. In this video, surgeon Heleen Snijders tells more about it: