• Question: If Human Beings had enough control over thier brains would it be possible to tell the cells to rapidly multiply over a short period of time and heal injurys almost instantly.

    Asked by to Bethany, Hannah, Keith, Peter, Ramya on 22 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ramya Bhatia

      Ramya Bhatia answered on 22 Jun 2014:


      Very interesting question.
      My instant answer to this would be no. There are voluntary actions and involuntary actions that our body does. Voluntary actions are things like moving your hand and leg which our brain controls. Involuntary are those that our body does which we have no control over such as food getting digested in our body or fighting diseases. So because we dont have control over these things it will be very difficult for our brain to control it.

      That being said, your question is hypothetical. So if lets say our brain could actually control all of these involuntary actions, then it might be possible to tell our cells in ther body to treat ourselves. I am not sure if it can ever be achieved

    • Photo: Bethany Dearlove

      Bethany Dearlove answered on 22 Jun 2014:


      This is a great question! Having been forced to sit on the sidelines with a back injury for nearly twelve weeks in the past, I really wish being able to heal the body was all in the power of the mind. Unfortunately it isn’t as simple as that, and as Ramya says, the healing and immune systems are some of the involuntary actions our body does without us needing to think about it. However, there was a recent paper (found here: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/04/30/1322174111.abstract) that suggested it might be possible, with training, to influence the nervous system and immune system into producing more of certain chemicals to help fight infection. Clearly it’s only early days, but it’s certainly an interesting thought whether we might be able to mentally treat ourselves.

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