When you are sick, either from something minor like a cold or from a more serious health problem, have you ever noticed how your mental attitude can really contribute to the way you feel?
I can remember throwing myself some pretty good pity parties when I was bed-ridden with the flu or pneumonia or something. Along with feeling very sorry for myself, I would think things like, “I feel so sick.” “My fever is not going away.” “This is just horrible…I’m never going to get better.”
If we’re all being honest here, I think thoughts like these are pretty normal. It’s just the worst to be sick, stuck at home with all of the miserable symptoms that go along with being ill.
I also had a difficult time staying positive while I was recovering from my hysterectomy. I was so sick afterwards and feeling so miserable that my brain played along thinking negative things all day long about how awful I felt.
In the past few months, a few things happened that have really shown me how our thoughts and feelings can impact our health. First, I had a conversation with a dear friend of mine who is a huge believer in affirmations. As we were chatting over coffee, we got on the topic of positive thinking and she explained how ones body will often go along with what ones mind is thinking. So, if we are lying in bed telling ourselves how rotten we feel, our bodies will essentially obey these thoughts and continue to feel sick.
On the other hand, my friend explained, if we make an effort to think positive thoughts about our health and how we are feeling, our bodies will “listen” and respond accordingly. Examples she gave me included phrases like, “I am healthy.” “My body is healing every minute.” “I am well.”
Not too long after this conversation, I came home from work feeling headachy and tired. The next morning I woke up feeling stuffy and with a sore throat. As I reached for the Advil and orange juice, my friend’s advice came to me, and I decided what the heck, I’d give it a shot.
Instead of focusing on how crummy I felt, I repeated over and over to myself, "I’m healthy." "My body is very strong and healing." If I caught myself feeling sorry for myself, I replaced those thoughts with positive words.
And you know what? It worked. I got over my cold in record time.
So, I started to research the connection between our thoughts and our health, and if what my friend was saying and what I had just experienced was backed by science. It didn’t take long to find multiple websites devoted to this phenomenon, as well as a name for it: mind-body medicine.
Basically, this branch of medicine looks at the effect our thoughts can have on our immune systems and our health. Additionally, some studies have shown how our psychological health can impact our physical health.
I was happy to see that some medical facilities are even using this approach with their patients. For example, here is a website to an organization in the Boston area that teaches people about mind-body medicine:
www.mindbodymedicine.org
Cancer Treatment Centers of America also believes strongly in the mind-body connection. This is just so encouraging and amazing to me. I saw first-hand how it worked on my cold, and to think that staying positive can impact something as serious as cancer is incredible:
www.cancercenter.com/complementary-alternative-medicine/mind-body-medicine.cfm
And here is a center devoted to mind-body medicine. This one is in Washington, D.C:
www.cmbm.org
Have you had experience using mind-body medicine? What do you think about it? Do you think we can essentially will ourselves to be well, or do you think it’s just a coincidence when it happens? I am looking forward to reading what you have to say on this topic.