Negative Thinking: Can Thoughts Kill?

In last week’s post I shared my “Top 5 Unhealthy Habits Worthy of a Permanent Vacation”. One of the bad habits I shared was negativity. This sparked a lot of conversation in our office. Nobody argued the fact that our thoughts affect our moods and our happiness, but what about our health and well-being? Aren’t our thoughts purely mental? How could they possibly affect the body?

According to scientists, we have about 60,000 thoughts a day (one thought per second). And what’s even more startling is that of those 60,000 thoughts, 95% are the same thoughts we had yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that.

Our minds are playing the same thoughts over and over, which wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the next statistic: for the average person, 80% of those thoughts are negative. If you do the math that means most of us have more than 45,000 negative thoughts each day!

Positive mental attitude plays an important role in our ability to reach our goals, and research also shows it also plays a role in overall wellness and longevity in several ways. First, our thoughts (both conscious and unconscious) are what lead us to make the decisions we make. Toxic thoughts lead to toxic choices, which are unhealthy: not exercising, eating unhealthy foods, abusing alcohol and drugs, and more.

Negativity also causes stress. The Centers for Disease Control sights a significant link between stress and six of the leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide. Stress makes us fat, causes illness and disease, and sends a large number of Americans to an early grave. Yes, stress will kill you and negativity is a stressor you just don’t need.

One technique that helps to reverse the habit of negativity is the use of affirmations. Affirmations aren’t a new topic for this blog; I wrote about them in a very popular post for our local blog community, AreaVoices, entitled, “It’s In Your Head: Amazingly Simple Health Secret Revealed”.

Affirmations are statements that describe a desired condition or situation. They are composed of words, which automatically and involuntarily bring up related mental images into the mind. The repetition of affirmations and the resultant mental images can affect and change one’s health, world, and life.

To get the most from your affirmations you must recite them every morning before starting your day and each evening before going to sleep. Constant repetition, with feeling, will lead to acceptance in the mind. We recommend repeating your affirmation/s 40 times a day for 40 days. It takes 40 days to impress upon the unconscious “reacting” mind all that you desire and dream. Then it becomes automatic behavior in the conscious “acting” mind.

Below are our favorite affirmations for a healthier way of life…

• I lovingly do everything I can to assist my body in maintaining perfect health.
• I am constantly discovering new ways to improve my health.
• I look forward to a healthy old age because I take loving care of my body now.
• I naturally make choices that are good for me, I take loving care of my body and my body responds with health, an abundance of energy and a wonderful feeling of well-being.

Dr. Tiffany