Worrying about your health can make you sick

(Originally published 15 July 2012) 

We keep looking for that one little thing we can do to keep us safe. We latch onto each new study finding that if we take this one pill or eat this certain breakfast food or get this amount of exercise, we'll stay healthy and all our problems will disappear. Sorry, but it doesn't work that way.

Actually, it may be your fearful, angry, ashamed, and unloving thoughts and emotions that have more to do with longevity than how much fiber or how few calories you eat, or the frequency and intensity of your workouts. Consider the Helsinki study which Deepak Chopra mentions in Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul (pp 83-84):

A group of middle-aged Finnish men at high risk for heart attack were placed in two groups. The control group got no special attention; they saw their doctor a few times a year and got the same general advice about eating better, exercising more, losing weight, and not smoking. The second group was followed carefully, seen more often, put on a specific program to reduce certain heart attack risks like high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

As you may have guessed, researchers were stunned to find it was the second group that suffered more deaths overall and more fatal heart attacks! "A commentator on the study remarked that it might be a health risk to constantly worry about your heart and see that worry reflected by a doctor you visit too often."

Chopra mentions other findings which point to the primacy of the internal state over physical habits: "The fact is that men who confront their psychological problems in their twenties are doing more to prevent early heart attacks than if they reduced their cholesterol. Elderly people who are emotionally resilient have a better chance of living a long, healthy life than do elderly patients who are less resilient but take vitamins and get regular checkups. Such findings are only a mystery if you ignore awareness and energy, the two foundations of the body."

Obviously, neither Chopra nor I would try to dissuade anyone from adopting better habits, a healthier diet or getting more exercise. But please don't forget that true health and wellness stem from the invisible world of awareness and energy—your thoughts and beliefs, your emotional state. Don't neglect your inner work. Molding a better body is fine, but it's the programming that will ultimately determine how well it runs and how long it lasts.

Blessed Be, Amanda