Positive Thinking And Its Effect On Your Health
by: Greg Riley
The first situation to consider is the relationship between thoughts and conditions like depression and stress. A crucial question is whether the person's thoughts are creating the physical depression or the physical depression is creating the negative thinking. When it comes to how you can use your mind to help, this can be accomplished consciously and subconsciously. When someone has a habit of imagining things turning out very badly, rational thinking can show show them that they often exaggerate. However, the unconscious mind is much more powerful in shaping our habitual behavior, oftentimes beyond our conscious control. Visualization and hypnosis can be very effective in modifying beliefs and, if you do this, the long-lasting effects can be more powerful than using logic only.
It is likewise true that positive thinking can have an impact on our physical health, and you may be aware of the placebo effect on people who feel ill. This is when individuals are given a pill which in reality does not have any healing value, and yet they claim to notice an improvement in how they feel. This is evidence of the connection between mind and body, and there are many examples of men and women with a positive outlook being able to recover faster from malady and injury. You can also use the power of your mind to help you in achieving your fitness goals. A historic example of this is when the four minute barrier for running the mile was broken, which had been considered as unachievable up to that point. Once the "barrier" had been broken, other runners also began to break through what had really been a barrier of belief.
The effects of aging are likewise influenced by how we think about the process. As you get older, do you talk to your friends about your "aches and pains" and your weakened capabilities? It seems there's a great deal of truth to the saying, "You're only as old as you think you are," and our thoughts can be used to undo a lot of the so-called effects of aging. Unfortunately, numerous individuals will continue to hold on to old beliefs about the unavoidable "decline" of health in old age, and not pay attention to the benefits of a positive outlook.
Now that you are aware that your attitude can bring you a much better state of health, it's up to you to take advantage of this information and set your intention to think positive thoughts whenever you remember.
No longer hiding from sickness,
some turn it into a fashion statement
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By MEGAN K. SCOTT
Associated Press
New honesty
Experts aren't sure what to call this new open attitude about illness. But they credit television, the Internet, celebrities, and the need to raise money and awareness for diseases.
"Morning television and Oprah, settings where empathy existed, that really said, 'it's OK for me to have an illness,'" says Rich Hanley, director of graduate programs at Quinnipiac University's school of communications. "Pop culture has embraced personal narratives."
And whether it's Lance Armstrong fighting cancer or Brooke Shields and postpartum depression, celebrities show people that it's OK to tell the world what they are going through, says Rhoda Weiss, a national health care consultant in Santa Monica, Calif.
"The hipness is also indicative of a new freedom of expression that came out of the Internet," she says. "Being able to talk about your disease has a freeing-like affect on the victim both on the Net and in front of others."
Combine all of that with the sophisticated marketing of diseases - ribbons, awareness months, walks, and colors - and the illness becomes a pop-culture statement, says Hanley.
Owning the illness
People who broadcast their illnesses are not looking for pity and are not in denial about the seriousness of their disease, says breast oncologist Dr. Alejandra Perez, who sees patients wearing everything from sloganed T-shirts to pink wigs to no wigs at all.
"For our patients, it is very, very important to show the world that even though they have cancer, they are fighters," says Perez, co-director for the Memorial Regional Hospital Breast Cancer Center in Hollywood, Fla. "They are not victims.".
"You are giving affirmation to the fact that it does suck, and it's OK to suck but nonetheless you can look good and feel good," says Silverman, 38, mother of two. "It's my goal for people not to look at me and cry. Look at me and see that I am doing all the things you need to do to have a life."
Feeling good can look good
"Medical fashion accessories" can actually look good, too.
Stylish bracelets, necklaces and watches from http://www.creativemedicalid.com/ changed Renee Rhoades' attitude about having to wear a medical ID bracelet. She was worried about being branded as a sick person.
"I feel like a diva when I wear them," says Rhoades, who lives in Richmond and has diabetes. "I went from feeling self-conscious about being tagged with something for the rest of my life to 'So, what bracelet do I get to wear today? "
Photos by Michael Scott/Creative Medical ID
Creative Medical ID shows a an Italian Charm Links bracelet that alerts people of the wearer's medical condition.
Article : Beaded Medical ID Bracelets
Most medical ID tags are worn in case of emergencies and doctors and emergency workers are trained to look for them because they usually have special medical instructions on them. The bracelets can identify things like heart disease, allergies to certain medications, diabetes or any one of a number of other pieces of information that a doctor may need to know if you're unconscious or not able to speak.
