In Today’s feature article I’m going to tell you a story of two men. They lived pretty similar lives, with similar diets and moderate exercise routines. Both were married with two children and neither one smoked.
These two men happened to live in the same neighborhood and work in middle-management positions in the same company.
Looking at their lives there was only one fundamental difference between these two men. And I believe this fundamental difference caused Sam do die from a heart attack at the age of 47, while Jonas is still rocking and rolling at the age 86.
The sad part is that the one thing Jonas did to extend his life didn’t cost anything and was relativity easy to do.
You see, Sam was what I call an “excessive worrier.”
He always tended to see the glass half empty while Jonas considered it half full. Every time something happened or he heard any kind of news, he predicted gloom and doom coming from it.
But worrying isn’t a lethal disease, you may say.
Well, think again. Consider what happens physically when you worry.
1) Your body releases stress hormones, which triggers the fight or flight response throughout your body. When stress is triggered by anxiety, a flight or even freeze response is more common than fight.
2) The stress response causes blood to flow from your intestines into your skeletal muscles. Your heartbeat and blood pressure increase. Blood sugar levels skyrocket and loads of triglycerides (blood fats sometimes called the third type of cholesterol) are released to have immediate energy ready in the blood stream.
3) At the same time the digestive and immune systems shut down. Any part of the brain that’s not immediately needed for fighting or fleeing is shut down – this includes rational thinking and memory.
This all causes immediate symptoms such as tense muscles, irrationality, memory loss, headaches, fatigue, sweating and all kinds of discomfort.
Under normal circumstances, the anxiety/stress response only lasts for a little while. But for someone like Sam who was constantly worrying about what would happen, this physical state had become the norm for him.
And the physical symptoms were obvious…
For one, he suffered acid reflux and stomach aches on a daily basis since his digestive system was in a suspended state most of the time. This also weakened his immune system even further.
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But why did I blame Sam’s heart attack on his worrying? Let me take you through it step by step:
[adrotate group=”5″]1) Since his blood pressure and heart-rate was always in high gear, Sam’s arteries were constantly under intense pressure. Little by little cracks began to form.
2) Under normal situations the immune system would be working overtime to repair the arteries. But due to the constant stress and worrying, as well as the digestive problems, the immune system is basically paralyzed.
3) The only way to fix the cracks in the arteries was to load them up with what is usually a temporary solution of cholesterol and plaque buildup. Due to the chronic overload of triglycerides and blood sugar, the plaque buildup was quick and the arteries narrowed down to nothing.
Unfortunately, there were only two possible outcomes for Sam; heart attack or stroke.
There is, of course, an actual clinical condition of chronic anxiety. I don’t want to minimize that. However, for most of us it’s a choice to look at the world with a positive attitude.
Someone like Jonas who always thinks first of how things could go well (like John Lennon, he always saw the solution, never the problem) is often accused of having a Pollyanna attitude. Many people consider him unrealistic or even a fool.
To those who criticize, Jones simply says he’d rather be a happy fool than a miserable realist. And, he adds that although he’s not always right, he has less often been wrong about something going right than his worrying friends about something going wrong.
The science is definitely on Jones’ side. The fact is that worrying shuts down the very part of our bodies and brains that best can deal with the things we would worry about in the first place.
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But first, before doing anything else, please share your thoughts on today’s article in the comment section below.
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At the ripe old age of 100 years, My Father was asked by one of my friends 57 year old, what did My Father put his longevity down to. Father being the man he was just sat for a short while and looked around, then he said, “in all honesty, I can say that I’ve never worried about a thing in my life”, he added that “Worry Will Kill You”. He also said that if I were wise enough (pointing to myself) to take this into consideration, it might serve me well, up until that time I had never considered worry or worrying, but I guess like a lot of folk I did my share of that, but not any more, I adopted my Father’s Philosophy and have made a conscious effort of “NOT WORRYING ABOUT ANYTHING” it too counter productive.
He then went on to say about his experiences during “World War One, where he was a Decorated Soldier, Military Medal” and the basis of how he endured four years of conflict and survived by thinking that God was His Protector.
Now whether one can be described as a religious person or not, he lived through three centuries 1986 – 2001 with a firm belief that God was on his side.
Make up your own mind, it worked for him and as I have posted on this forum before he really didn’t have much in the way of sickness or illness during his 105 years of life. He died after short dose of influenza which he contracted during a severe winter in the United Kingdom in February 2001 “RIP William George”.
THIS IS VERY BENEFICIAL AND VERY INFORMING THANK YOU
That is all good aand well but easier said than done. Through life i have learned that those who have money aren’t as likely to worry as much as those that don’t. Those that have no health problems are not as likely to wory as much as those that do have major health problems.
I worry a lot and am 71 years old. I am in good health but have money problems because we are on a fixed income and being burried alive in medical bills. My wife has many health problems. So it is easy for a rich,healthy person to tell a poor unhealthy person not to worry. When you have pressures of life ,an especially in todays economy with Obama and the news constantly threatening seniors with “no more social security’ and cuts in medicare and doctors not wanting to take care of Medicare patients,it is only natural to worry and you can’t turn it off like a light switch.
I'm NOT a worrier and never have been. I've been accused of not worrying enough! So I'm not saying this to justify myself. BUT my mother is a worrier, one of those who wakes up at 3am worrying and can't go back to sleep, calls over and over when she can't get a hold of me, etc. And she is 88 years old and quite healthy. So I just wanted to reassure some of you worriers out there that worrying isn't a sure death warrant. You can still live a long life. it just will be more stressful, and worrying never fixes anything!
I disagree with you about eating a fat food, eating a fat, I mean good fat: like organic butter, milk and meat without hormons good for your heart and give you a needed energy and supply with minerals that you can find only in good quality meat. I grew up in wilage and we newer use a pestizides or hormons, and I ate everything and wasn’t owerweight. Our children drink artificial sweet drinks like soda and eat hamburgers, they deplited in natural sweets which contain in fruits and organic vegetables, and hormons in meat make them owerweight with high blood pressure, diabities high colesterol. We all need to be an advocate for healthy food and more exsersise in our every day rutine.
I am a firm believer in God and know that He cares for me.Whereas I will be concern about some things I cannot add anything or change what I worry about.It is very easy to stop worring only have faith in God.
More documentation for what we naturally know…
WORRYING IS A POISON.IT MUST BE AVOIDED. WELL THANKS A LOT FOR THIS ARTICLE.ITS QUITE EDUCATING AND HELPFUL.
We must be happy not to worry if you want to be a Healthier persons.
Sure worry never fixes anything. We should pray to God so that many worriers kick the habit. We need God's intervention.
Don't mean to rock the boat but my late Mom was a perennial worrier and she worried about everything from her children (us ) to her husband, she even had high blood pressure and was a little overweight most of her life besides having arthritis in the knees and hips. Yet, she lived until she was 80, what do you say to that? Maybe she had a supportive family around her or her diet (largely unprocessed in South East Asia)and had a great sense of humour but it goes to show that there is much more.
To worry is to “not trust The Divine”…..Do what you feel strongly about and then you must Let It Go !
People usually think they can’t stop worrying until they encounter the grave consequences of worrying. If they are lucky to survive it, then they learn that worrying is worth nothing. The truth is that every second you spend worrying reduces your life span. Worrying is ungodly. If you worry because you don’t have, your chances of having or becoming successful in life is further reduced.
Francis: I am a Christian ,great faith in God,study the Bible,preach for a very small congregation for free,pray daily but I worry a lot suffer from depression and take medication for it. You see,Francis,no two people are alike and you don’t have any control over some things that control how your mind reacts to certain situations. For instant my wife never worried about anything until she learned she was losing her sight because of mascular eye disease.Later she lost a lung due to cancer but won the battle.My point is you can’t take your situation and tell a person not to worry until you have walked in their shoes.
FUTILITY OF WORRY/ STRESS with a suggestion “NOT TO WORRY”.
With all your Attributes Of ” Bliss, Wisdom, Peace, Love, Joy, Purity and Spiritual Powers which are Power 1 to withdraw, 2 to Pack up, 3 to tolerate 4 to Adjust and accommodate 5 to discriminate, 6 to judge, 7 to Face 8 to cooperate , 9 To control your Mind and Senses and finally 10 to Rule”
By practicing and using these Inner powers, you can live in Heaven on Earth; even when you use even a fraction of these powers.
therefore, there is No need to worry or experience stress, which is:-
Pressure from Situations/ Circumstances (Not in our control) Stress =____________________________________________________________
Resilience, ie Inner Strengths (Fully in our control)
Please make up your mind NOT TO WORRY; 40% of worries, even otherwise, may never happen; 30% have already happened; 12% are about imaginary illnesses; 10% are capable of looking after themselves; only 8% deserve attention. Think, what worse can happen? And, try and improve on the worse.
You can, however, manage your stress by following:-
1 Stress is a negative energy and should never be considered necessary even for motivational purposes.
2 Remember, you are the master and creator of your stress, and as such don’t feel helpless by justifying or blaming others.
3 Be aware of the presence of stress by:-
Accepting,
Listening, (inner voice, with type of thoughts and do they need to be changed.)
Introspecting.
4 Situations and events do not cause stress. It is your habit of repeatedly thinking over the event.
5 Meditation – most effective method for Relaxation to manage stress and to remove the root cause of psychosomatic diseases, not treated otherwise;
6 Whatever we believe with feelings, becomes a reality.
7 Edge out your ego. ‘Creates major obstacles on the path of happiness &peace’.
8 I am unique and not to be compared with others. (God never makes a carbon copy of you.
9 Forget and forgive. 10 Develop positive attitude. “As your Attitude, so is the world.”
11 With soul conscious, you feel detached, secure and fearless in life;
12 Jealousy destroys you without affecting the other person, and burns you alive.
13 Substitute thought of revenge, by self transformation.
14 Consider yourself to be just an actor, or a guest in the world.
15 Search for advantages in stressful sits:-
Accept reality, (cause of failure or criticism);
Face sit with positive spirit and not escape from it;
Feeling of contentment;
Realization and not to rpt mistake;
16 Search for indirect advantages:–
`Story of king who lost his finger;
Dr with a loss of hairs;
loose motions and diarrohea;
17 When you face unmanageable problems, Accept these; and, think of ‘Karamic account’ being settled.
This article is full of wisdom about stress. I learned it in workshops about stress and relaxation exercises in the class, and by & buying stress management manuals and tapes, and using both regularly! Then I learned it in college, while getting degrees, and a license to practice for LPC work.
Years later, I became ill with one chronic conditions after another. Then I had to quit work due to health problems. (I had also quit using those techniques to learn to control what I thought and what I did not think) Then I got several other chronic conditions; and now I have changed my entire diet; begun to use some of the old “techniques”, and hope to be improving!
Yes, Jerry, you can quit worrying. I am in the process of doing all the stress management techniques I learned, in order to quit worrying now!
The first step, is in knowing that you are in charge of your mind. Nothing and no one else.
The second step is to find some stress management techniques you like; then begin to practice them several times a day. The more times you “practice” them, the sooner you will automatically learn and know them; then they will work miracles for you!
Most people have to end up in one or the other types of hospitals, to have a counselor or psychologist or psychiatrist that gets paid to go through these techniques to help you practice them; The other hospital is the one you go to if you stroke out, or have a heart attack! Then your own doctor will give orders for you to get professional help each day to learn how to recuperate, and learn how to dump your stress, using the same technicues I have written about!
It is much easier to learn the techniques; practice them; and begin to enjoy more of life events. By that time; you know you make your own feelings; every one of them; plus you have learned that you can learn to have the problematic emotions such as anxiety, fear, worry, anger! Those are all hard on the body and health, plus hard on relatives and friends and bosses, and work as well. Jerry, I wish you well and good health, plus a healthy mind. I am a worryier; I learned this the hard way. georgia, not grumbling or griping ;.)
Correction for the last paragraph. You can learn to rid yoursel fo the problematic emotions, which are primarily; worry, fear, anxiety, sadness, and most of all; ANGER! You can control and choose to have these, and to keep these in your thoughts; or you choose not to have them, or to know when you might need one of them. Every person has every emotion known. We come equipped with them, and even the worst ones have a reason to be used by any person, when needed; but used regularly, they “become” the problem. You just learn how to reverse the stages you learned to use. “Thought Stopping” is the name of lots of techniques, which help you to learn you are in control of what you think about, and ruminate about, and think many times a day. Look up “Thought Stopping”, and finde one or two you think you might like to practice. It takes little practice to feel good, and feel in control. I know a dozen ways to do this; I just need to do them. I used to teach them to clients each day; and in turn; they reinforced my own practicing and it becomes normal to feel better! A breathing technique is the next to learn. There are many ways to breath in a controlled manner, and they also help lung functioning! as well as STRESS! georgia
it is no point worrying because it really can’t solve your problema-rather it can cause some halth issues like high blood pressure etc. live one day at a time and do the best you can -if you need to budget or sort out your prioritiesdo so. find some relaxing activities to do-even a long walk can help.