Can Our Thoughts influence our health?

Can Our positive thoughts influence good health…
AND can negative thoughts trigger negative health?

Can your Thoughts actually Harm your Health?
Over recent years, medical practitioners as well as alternative therapists have been endorsing the theory that negative thoughts and emotions adversely affect your health. 

I am sure you’ve read many articles highlighting a connection between emotions, physical illness and the mind-body connection. There is a wealth of useful information out there. However, does terminology, jargon or hype of many articles leave the average person confused?

What does it mean to you? Can our thoughts influence our health?

During many conversations with friends and family, it became clear that many of them are struggling with the concept. They find it hard to believe that stress or negative emotions influence some part of the body to produce chronic pain. Or that our thoughts influence our health and can cause illness.

What do you think? Can your thoughts affect your health?

Let’s just experiment for a moment. Let’s put it to the test. It will be interesting to find out what you notice. Close your eyes and think about a juicy lemon. Now get involved with this idea and follow along with this imaginary scenario. Think about slicing the lemon in half. Lemon juice is dripping. Smell the fresh scent of the freshly cut lemon.

Now bite into the lemon….

At the thought of biting into the lemon, how did you feel? Most people say they felt saliva increase in their mouth and a strong physical reaction, such as a shudder or a sour expression on their face.

Watching a movie triggers emotions and physical responses

Watching a movie can have a similar physical and emotional effect. We all know that movies are imaginary, they are not real. Why is it that you cry, scream, or even laugh at the movies? The answer is that what you see, hear or think is constantly interpreted within your mind and produces a physical effect.

A gripping action movie or thriller causes many sweaty palms and hearts pounding. Our thoughts influence our body and as a result our thoughts influence our health.

So, if a movie can produce a physical reaction, why would some of your own thoughts act differently. In particular the unpleasant or negative thoughts? The fact is, your body reacts no differently to real or imaginary scenarios. It responds to a real threat or an imaginary threat in the same way. And yes, our thoughts influence our health and wellbeing.

Mind-body connection and negative emotions

You have no problems recognising your mind-body connection when you hit your thumb with a hammer. You know immediately that the physical pain will bring on a strong emotional response.

Yet, when it comes to recognising the opposite, we are reluctant to accept that pain or illness may be influenced by your emotions. Some people refuse to believe that their emotions play a part in serious illness.

Those that have been told that their illness has an unknown cause (autoimmune diseases, chronic fatigue syndrome, gastrointestinal problems etc.) somehow assume that it just happened and fate has dealt a nasty blow. Perhaps it’s the pollution they say, or it’s the diet, or maybe it’s hereditary, etc.

That may be partly so. Although you have to allow for the possibility that many health problems can also be caused by emotions, such as trauma, stress and anxiety. Our thoughts influence our health more than we realise.

It is about time that we all realise that the mind and body are connected and inseparable. No longer should there be a stigma attached to health problems that are initiated in your mind.

Emotions such as stress, anxiety and worry do cause a physical reaction

Emotions such as stress, anxiety, fear and constant worry, create tension and can cause an imbalance in the chemistry of your nervous system and your body.

This in turn lowers your immune resistance and we become more susceptible to a host of invaders compromising our health and wellbeing. Your thoughts and emotions can impact on your physiology.

We should all give more consideration to what your thoughts are really doing. Because while you are re-living gloomy thoughts from the past or fearing and stressing about something in the future, your physiology is producing a response in your body as though it is happening now. Our thoughts influence our health.

Stress stimulates your nervous system to produce adrenalin and cortisol to flood your cells. While the endorphins (the healthy feel-good chemicals) get depleted.

We all know too much of any chemical is not good for your health; it is no different with natural chemicals in your body.

If you have to work hard at anything, then work hard at being your own best friend. Think thoughts that are helpful to you, not working against you.

It is useful to remember the old saying “heal the mind, heal the body”.