How Mental Health Affects Your Physical Health - The Meeting Matters

The Silent Link Between Mind and Body

By Aqsa Mumtaz, Clinical Psychologist & CBT Practitioner

As a practicing therapist, one of the most common things I hear from clients is, “I thought my headaches, fatigue, or gut issues were just physical problems.” What many don’t realize is how deeply our mental health impacts our physical health, sometimes more than we can see on the surface.

Let me walk you through how this connection works, why it matters, and what you can do today to bring your mind and body back into alignment.

The Science Behind the Mind-Body Connection

Our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors aren’t just abstract experiences. They trigger real biochemical reactions in our body

• Stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, releasing cortisol , the stress hormone (McEwen, 2007).
• Prolonged cortisol release can lead to high blood pressure, lowered immunity, and even digestive issues.
• Depression alters neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which also influence pain perception, sleep, and appetite (Nemeroff, 2003).

Think of your brain as a CEO, and your body as the employees. If the CEO is anxious, panicking, or overwhelmed, the entire organization feels it, productivity drops, communication falters, and systems shut down. The same happens between your mind and your body.

Common Physical Symptoms of Mental Health Issues

 

Many clients come to therapy complaining of physical symptoms without knowing they’re rooted in emotional stress. Here are just a few examples:

Mental Health Concern	Common Physical Manifestations
Anxiety	Palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, GI issues
Depression	Chronic fatigue, body aches, sleep problems, appetite changes
PTSD	Muscle tension, migraines, gastrointestinal distress
Chronic Stress	Weakened immune system, skin flare-ups, heart disease risk

According to Harvard Health Publishing, chronic stress can worsen or increase the risk of conditions like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease (Harvard Health, 2021).

Where Emotions Live in the Body: The Somatic Storage of Mental Health

 

To truly understand how mental health affects physical health, we must explore how the body internalizes emotional experiences.

Mental distress doesn’t just vanish into thin air, it often gets stored in the body as tension, pain, or dysfunction. This is known as somatic storage. When emotions are unprocessed or overwhelming, the nervous system responds by “locking” them into different areas of the body as a protective mechanism. Over time, these stored emotions can cause persistent physical symptoms that often go unexplained by medical exams.

Here’s how some of the most common emotional experiences manifest physically:

• Anxiety – Stored in the gut, causing nausea, IBS, cramps, or appetite changes. The enteric nervous system, your “second brain”, mirrors emotional distress.

• Stress – Accumulates in the head, jaw, and shoulders, leading to migraines, jaw clenching, and upper back stiffness.

• Anger – Resides in the face and jaw, triggering facial tension, bruxism (teeth grinding), or redness.

• Grief or Sadness – Lives in the chest, felt as heaviness, tightness, or difficulty breathing.

• Fear or Trauma – Can be stored in the legs or lower back, creating feelings of shakiness, fatigue, or restlessness.

These are not metaphors—they are messages. When we ignore these signs, the body often speaks louder through illness or chronic conditions.

Body-based therapies such as somatic experiencing, trauma-informed yoga, or EMDR allow individuals to access and release stored emotional pain, bringing mind and body into true healing alignment.

Myths Clients Often Believe

1. “It’s all in my head.”
   No, it’s also in your muscles, stomach, heart, and immune system. Mental health symptoms have real physical expressions.
2. “Therapy won’t help my body.”
   In fact, therapy often reduces physical symptoms like headaches, IBS, sleep issues, and fatigue because we’re treating the root cause (Tylee & Gandhi, 2005)
3. “Only medication can fix me.”
   While medication can help, psychotherapy, lifestyle shifts, and mind-body work are equally essential (Cuijpers et al., 2013)

Consequences of Ignoring Mental Health

Left untreated, poor mental health can:

• Increase your risk of chronic diseases (heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions)
• Impair your immune system
• Lead to substance use or emotional eating
• Create relationship issues and job loss due to burnout

A 2020 WHO report highlights that people with severe mental health disorders die 10–20 years earlier than the general population, mainly due to preventable physical illnesses.

One client once told me, “I never realized my panic attacks were exhausting me physically until I fainted at work.” The cost of ignoring mental health is not just emotional, it’s physical, occupational and even spiritual.

From a Therapist’s Chair: Real-Life Example

A client came in for back pain that had no medical explanation. After 3 sessions, we uncovered deep-rooted grief from losing a parent in childhood. The unprocessed grief had turned into somatic pain, the body’s way of expressing what the mind suppresses. With trauma work and grief therapy, their back pain significantly reduced within months. Studies on somatic symptom disorder show that psychological therapy can significantly reduce physical complaints when emotional processing is prioritized (Luyten et al., 2021).

What You Can Do

1. Daily Mindfulness Practice

Train your mind to stay present. Just 10 minutes of breath-focused mindfulness can lower cortisol and reduce physical tension (Tang et al., 2007)

2. Therapeutic Journaling

Track emotional triggers and physical symptoms. Over time, you’ll see how your feelings translate into physical changes.

3. Get Professional Support

Don’t wait for a crisis. Therapy isn’t just for trauma, it’s for understanding yourself and creating balance.

4. Body-Based Therapies

Explore EMDR, somatic experiencing, or yoga therapy to release stored trauma from the body.

Final Thoughts: Healing Is Holistic

Your body is always listening to your mind. If you constantly tell yourself, “I’m not safe,” your body will respond as if it’s under attack. But the reverse is also true, when you begin to heal your emotional wounds, your body releases, relaxes and repairs.

Mental health is physical health. The sooner we embrace that truth, the faster we can begin the healing journey, together.

If you’re struggling with unexplained physical symptoms or emotional distress, reach out. Therapy is a space where your story can be heard, and your mind and body can begin to heal as one.

References

Cuijpers, P. et al. (2013). Psychological treatment of depression in primary care: a meta-analysis. British Journal of General Practice.

Harvard Health Publishing (2021). How stress affects your health. Harvard Medical School.

Luyten, P. et al. (2021). Treating medically unexplained symptoms: a systematic review. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

McEwen, B. S. (2007). Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation. Physiological Reviews, 87(3), 873–904.

Nemeroff, C. B. (2003). The role of serotonin in the pathophysiology of depression. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Tylee A, Gandhi P. The importance of somatic symptoms in depression in primary care. Prim Care Companion J Clin Psychiatry. 2005;7(4):167-76. doi: 10.4088/pcc.v07n0405. PMID: 16163400; PMCID: PMC1192435.

Tang, Y. Y. et al. (2007). Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation. PNAS.

World Health Organization (2020). Physical health and mental illness: The facts.