Can your mind cause illnesses? Physical ailments, such as broken bones, are easy to diagnose but some illnesses run much deeper. For example, we know that heart disease can be prevented by eating a healthy diet, exercising, and not smoking. But, studies have shown that emotions can contribute to heart disease and other ailments. As a matter of fact, cardiovascular risk factors include depression, anger, social isolation, lack of purpose in life, broken homes, trauma, etc. Let’s address the mind-body connection.
How can your mind cause illnesses?
We know that there’s a fight-flight response in humans under stress. An acute example includes a presentation when you have physiological symptoms. We’ve all experienced this. For instance, your heart starts to race, quick breathing, butterflies in your stomach, and even immediate bowel issues. However, when stress is chronic and daily from work, family, home, etc., we also feel it physically.
Some symptoms include feeling irritable, tired, anxious, sad, poor sleep, headaches, and/or unfocused. This may be stress on overdrive over a long period of time.
Mind over illness; disease prevention
Likewise, we can use the mind-body connection to positively benefit our health. The mind can prevent illnesses. Techniques such as yoga, tai chi, qigong, mindfulness meditation can reverse the fight or flight response of daily stress.
Your mind can cause illnesses but thankfully, it can also create peace and allow you to thrive. The techniques above include the following benefits: helps control pain and anxiety, boost mood and energy, improve happiness, compassion and overall quality of life.
High cortisol, our stress hormone, over time leads to accelerated aging, brain cell death, impaired memory and learning, decreased bone density, increased osteoporosis, reduced muscle mass, reduced skin growth and regeneration, impaired immune function, increased blood sugar, increased fat accumulation around waist/hips. Therefore, at Happy Food, we focus heavily on not just nutrition and diet but also the mind and stress. The mind can cause illnesses but it can also flourish.
Support is Key to Success
Making lifestyle changes all at once can feel overwhelming especially with all the conflicting noise on the internet. Humans are hardwired to need support; seek it both personally and professionally. Get a free 30-minute phone consultation. See if this is the right match for you by addressing natural weight loss, cravings, emotional eating, balanced diet, disease prevention, nutrition, and getting to the root cause of what’s keeping you stuck. See what others are saying on Google and Yelp.
For more articles, read https://happyfoodhealth.com/blog
~ Samantha Hua, Nutrition Coach & Holistic Health Coach, San Diego, CA
