| Volume 7 August, 2009 |
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LIVE LONG, PAIN FREE AND PROSPERA NEWSLETTER FOR LIVING MY FATHER'S SECRET |
| Dear Friends, What is Stress anyway? I have never seen it or a trace of this “thing” in all of the patients I have operated on. It does not physically exist and in fact; it is something that we create - with our thoughts. So if we create it, the question we should be asking is: what can I replace it with that is healthier? Carol A. Shively, a professor of pathology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine studied the effects of stress on the body and the buildup of abdominal fat which is associated not only with obesity but also heart disease and other hormonally related diseases. In this study, "monkeys were fed a Western-style diet that contained fat and cholesterol," These monkeys were placed in groups and "naturally established a pecking order from dominant to subordinate." But, what she found was that one group of subordinate monkeys was treated poorly, "the subordinate monkeys were not included in group grooming sessions as often as dominant monkeys, and were often the target of aggression." Basically these monkeys were stressed out, being treated unfairly and secondary the STRESS, the "subordinate monkeys...developed more fat in the abdominal cavity than other monkeys." Her team found that this "Social stress may cause the body to deposit more fat in the abdomen, which increases the risk of heart disease," due to a buildup of the amount of plaque in the cardiac blood vessels. In other words, stress directly resulted in an increase in heart disease among the subordinate or stressed out monkeys. This is exactly what was found in a study done on human beings, who felt they had been treated unfairly. The stress, either real or imagined, caused a significant increase in the chance of developing heart disease and heart attacks. In fact, this 2007 study reported in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health of 6,081 patients revealed that "those who felt they experienced the worst injustice (felt that they were treated unfairly, just as the subordinate monkeys) were 55 percent more likely to experience a coronary event than people who thought life was fair." That’s right, just by thinking that they were treated unfairly, they had twice as great a chance of having a heart attack as those who saw their lives as good. What can you do? The answer is really much simpler than you think. Become aware of the people, places and things in your life that cause you stress. Simply acknowledging that certain situations are stressful and being aware of where your stress comes from is sometimes enough. And then begin to think about which situations you can either avoid or minimize. And try to become aware of the fact that no matter what goes on outside of you, you are not obligated to absorb or stay involved with the factors that produce your stress. Remember, stress is internally created by you, in you, as a reaction to what is going on around you. So by breathing slowly, calming your mind and even leaving a situation you find unpleasant, you are literally saving your own life. There are simply not many issues that exist in our lives that are worth literally getting sick about. Choose to make yourself feel good. Simply taking 20 minutes a day, time to reconnect with you, and feeling good makes most stress related symptoms go away. And when you relax, you gain perspective as to the few things that are truly worth stressing about. Soon you will find that worry and stress does not solve anything, and looking for better places to be, or people to be with, is much healthier and makes for a happier life. Live long, pain free and prosper, Scott www.docinthehouse.com www.nervepain.com www.myfatherssecret.com PS: A message from the staff at Doctor in the House Dr Fried’s personal mission is to change the way the world heals, through self-empowered healing. If you enjoy our little newsletter, please forward this email to 5 friends you feel might benefit from these thoughts. They can simply go to www.nervepain.com and join our mailing list. Thanks |