If I were to ask you to take just 20-30 minutes to sit quietly and focus on developing an illness, do you think you could become ill?

Don’t answer yet.

I woke up one day on the wrong side of the bed. Infact I woke up pretty late and I was in no mood to go to work but I had to… I wanted to call in sick but I knew I would be asked to still come over so I decided to become ‘ill’…maybe I could get the day off.I focused on having a ‘headache’ and feeling ‘hot’ and before long it was happening… I kept away from all happy thoughts and smiles, refused to laugh at whatever joke just to make sure I remain ‘ill’ till my boss sees me and maybe gives me the day off and you know what, it worked though not totally. Everyone at the office saw I was ‘ill’ and attributed it to ‘work stress’. My boss saw me and really felt I was ‘ill’. But my ‘self-induced’ or is it ‘mind-induced’ illness didn’t get the desired result, I didn’t get the day off. *sad face.

“Researchers at Duke Medical Center tracked 2,800 patients who had been hospitalized with heart disease. Patients were asked to fill out a survey to determine how they felt about their medical diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. Ten years later, the group who answered the questions with a negative attitude saw 46 deaths per 100 people. But those with the most positive approach had 32 deaths per 100 subjects, when adjusted for factors like age and previous heart problems.” “Our research shows better physical recovery and a higher likelihood of survival is linked to attitude—personal beliefs about their illness,” John C. Barefoot, the study’s lead author and professor emeritus in the department of psychiatry at Duke.

So I ask again, If I were to ask you to take just 20-30 minutes to sit quietly and focus on developing an illness, do you think you could become ill? If your answer is yes it therefore follows that your mind and your thoughts should be able to heal you too, shouldn’t it?

How does your thought and state of mind affect your health? Can a positive outlook halt disease progression? Thought generates complex combinations of biochemicals which stimulate receptors that create a change in your body physiology.
Research has shown that 70% of our thoughts are actually negative and repetitive. We are bombarded with 4 billion nerve impulses every second but can only handle 2000 impulses consciously. So this means the majority of our responses are coming from our subconscious programming, and the bits we are consciously aware of will support our conscious and subconscious expectations.

Our thoughts are the most powerful tools we have. Every thought affects our cells and DNA. So if 70% of our thoughts are negative and repetitive, how are they affecting our cells? Of as negative as the thoughts are. Think about how much time you spend worrying about things athat are most likely not happening, nor going to happen. Think about how this is affecting every cell in your body all day long. It is exhausting you. You will have headaches and body aches for apparently no reason, sores in your mouth, body rashes that can’t be explained. More often than not, antidepressants are prescribed. Studies by Ellen Idler, Professor of Epidemiology at Yale University, indicate that how healthy you consider yourself to be is one of the best predictors of your wellbeing and future health. So just the very thought of not being well can impact on your overall wellbeing and future health.

Your belief in the treatment you receive has an impact on its efficacy. In an English study, 100 men were told they were receiving chemotherapy when they were actually given an inactive saline solution. Despite this, 20 per cent lost their hair, believing this would happen due to chemotherapy treatment. Can you imagine?

Joan Borysenko PhD says, “Conditioning is a powerful bridge between the mind and the body …the body cannot tell the difference between events that are actual threats to survival and events that are present in thought alone.” Disease and health, like circumstances, are influenced by your thoughts. Unhealthy thoughts will express themselves through a weak and ill body. So inoculate your body with thoughts and feelings that support it in health and maximize your healing potential.

Studies in Integrative Medicine have established that the mind, body and spirit are all active “ingredients” for overall well being and good health, and critical in preventing disease or living well with chronic disease.

Some Tips to help:

Think and focus on the positive always. Smile and laugh as much as you can.
Choose your healthcare professionals so you have confidence in them. Find health professionals that support the concept that good health is dependent on a range of factors: genetics, family upbringing, diet, exercise, beliefs, spirituality and social support.

The more you know about the world around you, the less scary life is. When you come to understand, control and effectively deal with life, it becomes less stressful. When life becomes less stressful, you experience less harmful loads of neuropeptides that can impact on the health of your body.
Investigate and explore healing modalities that harness the mind body connection. Develop a diet of healthy thoughts and attitudes.

Just as you are educated to eat a balanced diet of proteins, carbohydrates and healthy fats, consider a diet of laughter, forgiveness and love as essential nutrients for the body, too. Take a daily supplement of gratitude, hope and trust for all you have in your life.

Develop a community of friends who will share and support your life with you.One long-term study found people with the least social ties are two to three times more likely to get sick. Isolation and loneliness depress the immune system and can be a major health challenge when you lose a loved one.In a nine-year study of more than 7000 people in the US, it was found that the probability of an individual dying over the nine-year period was directly related to the size of their social support system.

see you next week as we look at how diet and nutrition affects health…