Have you ever heard of someone dying with a broken heart?
This is very unusual but it happens. Extreme emotional distress like depression, anger, and fear has a major impact on our physical health which causes these kinds of emotional and mental illnesses.
Although broken heart syndrome is something similar to a heart attack, it is not a heart attack. The physical conditions include: shortness of breath and chest pain. But, underlying these physical symptoms, is the very real possibility, that the actual reason is emotional and mental stress.
In short, our body doesn’t only get sick with physical conditions. Underlying emotional issues can create mental conditions as well, and also create great distress on our overall health.
Today our life is full of emotional threats. These types of issues include: the need to keep up with society, fear of being left behind, the desire of having good relationships, as well as work pressure, and these can all provoke different combinations of mental and emotional stress.
Many people are governed by their emotions without knowing that this is happening. These causes push our bodies towards unhealthy conditions.
In order to be able to heal successfully and holistically, we need to have an understanding of the underlying physical responses during a stressful event, and what part emotions play in our overall health.
When a stressful event occurs, our bodies, through the mechanism of the subconscious mind, the limbic system, automatically respond to this as a threat. Heal the Body Mentally The threat can be perceived or real. This sets off a cascade of physical, mental and emotional responses that enable our automatic responses to be evaluated, to see if the threat is real.
If it is real then we need to take specific action. If it is not real then our body/mind resets to a moral position.
How we are alerted to this threat is through the emission of emotions. Feelings have
certain chemical attached. So, this is a combined effort on the part of our body/mind to alert us to threats. So, this means that our emotions are that which “talk” to us and tell us how to behave.
In effect, emotions are the language of the body. This means that if we want to be able to heal effectively, we need to take notice of our emotions, because if we don’t this neglect can lead to both physical and mental health issues later on.
Hence the question that arises here is how to heal the body mentally and emotionally?
How do Emotions Affect Your Health?
To reiterate, when a stressful event occurs, our body reacts to the assumed
danger and triggers a chain of emotions even before the person becomes aware. Our emotions are automatic responses. They are governed by the subconscious mind. This is the reason why our emotions are not under our conscious control. They appear whether we like it or not.
For example, George is a victim of emotional and mental distress. Unbeknown to him, his emotions are triggering his medical conditions, which he is unable to explain. In a recent situation, the stress trigger event waswhen he wasn’t able to buy his favorite gadget. He loves a particular brand and this brand produces an expensive chain of electronics and communicational gadgets. He wanted to buy the latest model of this gadget which was recently released. However, it is very expensive, and he really cannot afford it.
On the surface it appears that something as simple as George’s frustrated desire of buying an expensive gadget, triggered a mixture of emotions such as sadness, humiliation, anger, anxiety, and helplessness. This also made changes in his physical condition and affected his health.
George also had a history of gastrointestinal conditions. Although he had a feeling that these stomach conditions have to do something with his stress and anxiety, deeply held emotional issues, he was unaware that these conditions were the cause of his intense pains. Whenever he saw someone using the same gadget he desired, he felt down and humiliated and all of a sudden, he felt intense pain in his stomach and unease. Because he had never given attention to his emotions, he had no idea what he needed to do, to feel better.
In such situations, you need to understand what is the root cause of your problem.
And, in most cases, the underlying cause is a deeply held “unexpressed emotion” that has been festering inside for many years. Because the person has a current trigger, they do not associate it with a previous emotion they were not able to express at the time, and since this emotion has been building up, it is ready to explode at the slightest issue.
Many people keep taking medications and supplements and still feel they are not healthy. This is due to those “unexpressed emotions” which underly their emotional and mental states. When you are able to express your emotions freely, they will dissipate, and you will become emotionally and mentally strong, and your physical body will be able to recover and heal efficiently and effectively.
How to Heal the Body Mentally And Emotionally.
To be in perfect health or to heal your body properly, you need to heal yourself emotionally and mentally as well. Here are a few tips and practices to help you how to heal mentally and emotionally.
Heal the Body and Socialize Yourself:
In this electronic era, calls and social networking have their place. Having physical social activities have its impact. Socializing more with people and having face-to-face conversations can boost your mood and help you in easing stress levels. According to Van der Kolk:
“Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives.”
Psychology says that face-to-face social contact reduces the risk of depression.
Heal the Body with an Active Daily Routine:
Being active is great for the mind as well as it is for the body. Having an active daily routine like exercising and engaging in physical activities can make a remarkable difference. It can help you reduce your stress, improve your memory, boost your positive emotions, and help you in having a better sleep.
Heal the Body by Pleasuring Your Senses:
Everyone responds to sensory input differently. Does listening to good music calm your emotions? Does having a quiet time soothe your nerves? How about taking a walk in a park and listening to the sounds of nature? Try experimenting with yourself to find the best way which can work for you.
Heal the Body by Focusing on Positivity:
Staying positive and focusing on positive things is a necessity for good mental and emotional health. It is advised to focus on positivity as you progress in a day. Take time to relax and make notes about even little things. This will help you later when you feel down and need a boost.
Heal the Body by Eating a Healthy Diet:
Eating a healthy diet helps to support strong mental health. Brain healthy diet includes fatty fish which are rich in omega-3, walnuts, cashew nuts, peanuts, avocado, beans, leafy green vegetables like spinach, kale, and brussels sprouts, and fresh fruits, especially berries. Try to include these in your daily routine for better mental health.
Heal the Body and Don’t Compromise on Your Sleep:
Sleep is crucial for overall body health. According to research people who take less sleep are prone to experience more depression and frustration. It is necessary to take proper eight to nine hours of sleep for better mental and physical health.
Heal the Body by Living Purposefully:
To have a peaceful mind you should try to be purposeful and productive. Don’t do
things because you think you should be doing it, but do things that are purposeful and rewarding for you as well as enjoyable and you love doing it.
For example, engage in work that makes you feel useful and worthy. Enhance relationships and spend some quality time with people who matter to you, whose company makes you feel happy and rejoicing. Volunteer for community programs that makes you feel connected.
All these things help to calm your mind and give you happy and positive emotions hence, participating in boosting your physical and mental health.
Heal the Body by Practicing Relaxation Methods:
To reduce stress levels and anxiety, many people prefer to practice relaxation methods such as yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises. These help to reduce mental and emotional stress and help in boosting overall health.
There are some very helpful exercises and practices defined that you can see in
my latest book titled: “How to Manifest Your Desires”.
Way Forward:
According to experts, negative emotions, mental stress, and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness can create chronic stress which further leads to poor physical health. This includes unbalanced body hormones, depletion of brain chemicals required for happiness, and this then damages the immune system.
Science has confirmed that mental stress and emotions can shorten our telomeres, The DNS’s “end caps”, which causes us to age more quickly. Hence, if you’ve tried self-help and stress management techniques, you should seek professional health. They can help you come up with a treatment plan and procedures to boost your mental and physical health.
So, knowing that health is affected by our emotions and that when these emotions are left “unexpressed”, they can cause irreparable damage both mentally and emotionally, my challenge to you is this: if you have had an on-going health issue which never seems to clear up, what action are you going to take to address this and finally put it to bed?
