Physical Illness and Mental Illness: The Metabolic Loop and Brain Health

Introduction: Are the Body and Mind Separate Existences?

Historically, we have thought about the body and mind separately. If the body was sick, we went to the internal medicine or orthopedics department, and if the mind was sick, it was natural to visit the psychiatry department. However, Dr. Christopher Palmer points out that “this dualistic approach is the biggest obstacle blocking mental illness treatment.”

Today, I want to talk about how the metabolic diseases of our body are entangled like a thread with mental health, and why we should look at the whole body.

1. Obvious Link Shown by Statistics

Mentally ill people are overwhelmingly more likely to experience physical diseases than the general public. Schizophrenia or bipolar disorder patients are 3 times more likely to get diabetes than the general public, and the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease is more than 2 times higher.

You might simply think, “Since the mind is tired, they don’t exercise and don’t eat well, isn’t that why?”. However, Dr. Palmer argues that “mental illness itself is already a form of metabolic disorder.” In other words, diabetes and depression seem like completely different diseases, but in fact, they are results from the same root called breakdown of the energy metabolism system.

2. Correlation Between Insulin Resistance and the Brain

Recently, some in the medical world explain Alzheimer’s with the term ‘Type 3 Diabetes.’ It’s logic that since brain cells cannot properly utilize insulin, energy becomes insufficient and function degrades.

This mechanism applies not only to Alzheimer’s but also to depression and anxiety disorders. When a problem occurs in blood sugar regulation, the brain does not receive stable energy, which leads to malfunctioning of neurocircuits and instability of emotions. The ‘Sugar Crash’ phenomenon where our mood temporarily gets better after eating sweet food and then suddenly falls into depression is a small example showing how sensitive our brain is to blood sugar metabolism.

3. Inflammation: Invisible Flame Burning Body and Mind

Obesity or metabolic syndrome induces chronic inflammation in the body. And these inflammatory substances are delivered to the brain through the blood and stimulate the immune cells of the brain. Excessively stimulated immune responses of the brain break the balance of neurotransmitters and damage brain cells.

This is the biological reason why if physical health collapses, mental health inevitably collapses as well. Conversely, it also means that improving eating habits and regaining metabolic health can be the most powerful psychiatric treatment.

Conclusion: Fix One, and the Other Revives Too

From the perspective of the Brain Energy Theory, we can no longer be trapped in compartmentalized thinking of “Mental is in psychiatry, physical is in internal medicine.” This is because if body metabolism survives, energy production of brain cells also becomes smooth, and naturally, mental symptoms also improve.

Our body is one sophisticated orchestra. You cannot tune only the piano (mind) when the string of the violin (body) is broken. The process of normalizing the metabolic system of the whole body, that is the most honest and certain way to heal your heart.

From the next chapter, we will deal in more detail with ‘Mitochondria,’ which is the core of all these problems.