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Using Your Mind to Control Disease

Your mind can be a source as well as a remedy for diseases!

Mind causes diseases…

Diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer are just a few of the common diseases these days. They are known as lifestyle diseases, as our toxic enviornment is one of the main causes for these diseases. More and more people are affected every year. The number of people affected increased each year. Stress, unhealthy diet and lack of exercise are few of the lifestyle factors that are to blame. Depression and anxiety also lead to lifestyle diseases.

Here’s how:

meditationWhen you are stressed, a hormone called cortisol is released. It is linked to cravings for unhealthy foods and particularly high-glycemic foods and saturated and trans fatty acids which includes french fries, pastries and other junk food. This leads to weight gain and high blood pressure. Thus makes way for lifestyle diseases.

Stress takes a toll on your immunity. It makes one susceptible to infections and also delays wound healing.

A study was conducted on low level workers of U.K. They had high stress and limited autonomy compared to high level jobs. The analysis confirmed that low level workers were twice at risk of developing heart diseases and diabetes than high level workers. The second finding of the same study was low level workers were more likely to die than their counterparts. In this context, stress is defined as low level of control over the job, lower levels of cooperation from co-workers and superiors and high level of demand.

Mind heals diseases…

Deliberate stress reduction via various coping strategies has resulted in enormous improvements in lifestyle diseases. Meditation, group therapy, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and stress-reduction techniques all help in quick recovery. Read about this miracle drugs that helps many people!

Another study was conducted on breast cancer patients. One group of patients received only medication. The other group of patients received supportive-expressive group therapy along with medications. Supportive-expressive group therapy was about stress reduction and social support. They were taught stress reduction techniques and were given social support. They interacted with more people who were highly motivated. The second group showed improvements in cancer and they also lived longer than the first group patients.

A study conducted in 1980, proved that heart diseases can not only be prevented but can also be reversed with plant-based diet, social support, meditation, yoga and moderate exercise. This combination was important.

ImmunoPower

The Power of Meditation

Researchers are dazzled at the extraordinary and seemingly unrelated list of benefits from this “drug”.  The initial public offering to be sponsored by a major bank investment firm on Wall Street is expected to generate north of $100 billion. Insiders are lining up with their brokers to be first at investing in this “no lose” opportunity.

The “drug” is meditation.  Not “medication”, but “meditation”.  Only one letter difference between the two. But a world of difference in effectiveness and side effects.

Full disclosure: regular use of meditation has been known to induce happiness, better health, and longer life.  Use at your own risk.

There are at least 3000 scientific studies supporting the use of meditation to prevent or reverse various health ailments.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy/ CBT

people95-300Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a talking therapy. It doesn’t talk about the past but it talks about the present state. It’s about discussing your thoughts, what you think about yourself, about the world and about others. Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps you understand how your thoughts influence your behavior. It helps you locate the cause for your trouble and correct it. It helps you feel better. It helps you change the way you look at things. Thus it changes your behavior and outlook towards your life. Cognitive-behavioral therapy improves many diseases including anxiety, depression and even acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome/ AIDS. It helps you overcome lifestyle diseases.

Use the power of your mind to control disease!

Reduce Stress

Distress due to last minute rush or unable to meet deadlines and constant worry are few of the factors that cause stress. They can be dealt with by planning in advance. Well begun is half done! Plan before plunging in. Time events. Planning will give you a broad picture of the task and will help you set realistic expectations. This will also avoid the last minute rush.

Focus on a positive state of mind

Positive attitude is a powerful force. It contributes greatly to managing and reducing stress. The past can’t be changed. Understand the past is past, and now is the time to focus on the positive aspects of your life. It is even possible that a strong positive attitude can improve difficult and troubling situations from the past.

Think back to something unpleasant, sad, or something that made your angry that has happened in your life. Work towards correcting it. Focus on the issue and think about how it would have been like with a more positive outcome. This will help reverse some of the damage caused, in fact many people experience far better results than expected.

Here are few coping strategies

  • Deep breathing:

Take slow deep breaths. Breathe in as slow as possible, hold for one or two seconds, then breathe out. Imagine that you are breathing in the positive energy and breathing out negative energy and negative thoughts.

  • Do things that make you happy:

Watch a laughter show or listen to your favorite music. Laughing loud lightens your mood and music soothes your mind.

  • Warm shower:

Take a shower. It will help you relax and thus de-stress.

  • Walk:

Walk in the fresh air. Morning walks are known for rejuvenation.

  • Speak out:

Speak out to a loved one. It lightens the burden.

  • Meditation/ Prayers:

mindfulness-300Meditation/ prayers are healers which have been scientifically to improve one’s health. For instance, guided imagery, wherein you imagine your favorite vacation or maybe a beach sunset. This kind of imaging actually helps you de-stress.

Your mind is the friend, mind is the enemy…. If you control your mind, your mind is your friend; if you don’t control your mind, your mind controls you instead and it can become your enemy.

Mind and body are not separate entities. They are interlinked through various networks. A healthy mind stays in a healthy body. Also, the right state of mind keeps you healthy.

Researchers have concluded that depression is one of the reasons for heart diseases. On the other hand, insufficient sleep releases a hormone called cortisol which is a stress hormone. It leads to weight gain and thus sources many diseases.

This makes the mind-body connection evident.

meditation-300Mind is the source of everything, your success as well as your failure. Do you want to control your mind? Train it. It’s said that thoughts become words and words become actions. So tune your thinking.

Try this …

Decide your goals. Write it down, use stick notes, stick it in your work place. They will act as reminders which help you train your mind.

Read your goals/ ambitions every day before sleeping. This will help them settle down in the deepest portions of your mind.

Reference:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1456909/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181012/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK45688/

http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/tc/common-coping-responses-for-stress-topic-overview

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/why-stress-causes-people-to-overeat

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sleep-deprivation-obesity/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16428252

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2571815

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1456909/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3068720/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2814126/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1069062/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804629/

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health-news/Healing-illnesses-through-mind-power/articleshow/2968570.cms

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/therapies/cognitivebehaviouraltherapy.aspx

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6336794

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7475659

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16316783

Dr. Patrick Quillin

Dr. Patrick Quillin, PhD,RD,CNS is an internationally recognized expert in the area of nutrition and health. He has 30 years experience as a clinical nutritionist, of which 10 years were spent as the Vice President for a leading cancer hospital system where he worked with thousands of cancer patients in a hospital setting. He is a Best Selling Author with 18 books which have sold over 2,000,000 copies and also a Keynote Speaker.

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