health    |    August 8

Health Impacted

It is oft said that you are about as healthy as you feel you are and even though this may not be altogether true, it is a fascinating idea that thoughts can affect your well being. The reply you hear when you ask a person how they feel will vary from individual to individual, but in most instances it can be quite a negative one. Whether it’s not being as strong as they used to be, or merely not feeling healthy enough, these thoughts preoccupy a lot of individuals. What makes the difference between individuals who appear to constantly direct their attention on what’s not going right, and individuals who manage to find something optimistic to talk about? So let’s talk about several ways in which positive thinking can make your health better.

The link between mental and physical health is very obvious when looking at those who suffer from depression. Depression is a sensitive subject because some people claim it is caused by a physical condition, while others are willing to explore psychological solutions. It’s best to include the unconscious mind in any treatment because most conditions cannot be solved by simply “changing your mind.” At times, it may just need some sort of rational thinking to put a situation into perspective, as many of the things we worry about never turn out to be as bad as imagined. However, the unconscious mind is much more powerful in determining our habitual behavior, often beyond our conscious control. Visualization and hypnosis can be very effective in changing beliefs and, if you do this, the long-term effects can be more powerful than using logic alone.

It is also true that positive thinking can have an impact on our physical health, and you are no doubt aware of the placebo effect on people who feel ill. This is when people are given a pill which actually does not have any therapeutic value, and yet they claim to notice an improvement in how they feel. The belief in the power of the placebo demonstrates how the mind affects the body, and this power can be used to help people recover from illnesses more quickly. This power can also be used when exercising and reaching fitness goals, as the limit to what you can achieve is based on what you believe. A historic example of this is when the four minute barrier for running the mile was broken, which had been seen as impossible up to that point. However, following this event, many athletes began to also run the mile under four minutes.

Another example of how we can utilize positive thinking is to counterbalance aging effects. Some individuals center their thoughts, and their conversations, on what they believe to be the unavoidable results of becoming older: pains and limitations. A new science of longevity demonstrates that our thoughts affect our bodies and can overturn numerous of the so-called “unavoidable” effects of aging. Regrettably, numerous individuals will nonetheless hold on to old beliefs about the unavoidable “decline” of health in old age, and not pay attention to the benefits of a positive mindset.

By utilizing the power of your mind for positive thinking, you can attain higher fitness goals and attain a state of good health.



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