Effects of Negative Thinking on the Body and Health
How does worry, cynical thinking, repressed emotions, low self-esteem and chronic stress affect our bodies?
In the book Switch On Your Brain, Dr. Caroline Leaf proposes that 75% to 98% of mental, physical, and behavioral illnesses come from one’s thought life.
Although that is a round estimate, researches prove that happy people (with positive emotions, absence of negative emotions) live longer. On the other hand, chronic stress decreases lifespan.
Looking at the World Health Organization (WHO) data, the last 20 years have seen a rise in non-communicable diseases, especially in the Americas and Europe. Research shows how negative thinking may negatively affect our bodies, being another factor making us vulnerable to non-communicable diseases.
Heart diseases still have remained the leading cause of death all over the world, according to WHO. But dementia (its’ most common form is Alzheimer’s disease) has stepped into the top 10 causes of death worldwide, ranking 3rd in both the Americas and Europe in 2019.
In my article, I aim to present how different ways of negative thinking may negatively affect our bodies and health. It is not medical advice. My purpose is to provide understanding and motivation to care for our wellbeing with our thought life.
Repressed Emotions Suppress Body’s Immunity
Repressed emotions differ from suppressed emotions — repressed emotions are the ones we subconsciously avoid. Suppressed emotions are the ones we avoid consciously because we don’t know how to deal with them.
Usually, repressed emotions are linked with childhood traumas. For example, when a mom had yelled continuously at the child, “stop crying!” the child will be discouraged to express his/her emotions and will start repressing them. Later in life, he/she will feel that it is wrong to show strong emotions such as anger, frustration, sadness, fear, and disappointment. Such negative emotions, especially fearful ones, affect the body negatively.
According to the Harley Therapy clinic, people who repress emotions will usually also be prone to suppress emotions when facing other events unrelated to the ones that initially caused repression of emotions.
Studies by social psychologist James W. Pennebaker demonstrated that individuals who repress their emotions also suppress their body’s immunity, making them more vulnerable to various illnesses ranging from common colds to cancer.
According to the researchers at the University of Minnesota, poorly managed or repressed anger (hostility) is also related to such health conditions as hypertension (high blood pressure), cardiovascular disease, digestive disorders, and infection. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is one of the risk factors of cardiac malfunction.
Research on aging and longevity has also demonstrated that psychological factors bordering on emotions are more significant predictors of a long, healthy life than other factors like diet and activeness.
Repression of emotions also gives rise to elevated stress levels, a study published in the International Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research confirms.
Repetitive Negative Thinking And Alzheimer’s Disease
Repetitive Negative Thinking is a cognitive process that encompasses future‐ (worry) and past‐ (rumination) directed thoughts. It is the constant worrying and troublesome speculation about the future that has become a habit for many people.
Recently, a link has been found to how such negative thinking can impact Alzheimer’s Disease’s development, which is the most common form of dementia.
A study held out at The Douglas Research Centre showed that obsessive negative thought patterns were linked to an increase in cognitive decline and aggregation of amyloid-beta proteins — a brain protein involved in Alzheimer’s disease.
Repetitive Negative Thinking is a commonly occurring symptom in depression and anxiety disorders. And also, depression and anxiety are psychological risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.
The same study also showed that in the time of 4 years, people with higher repetitive negative thinking patterns experienced a faster decline in global cognition, immediate memory, and delayed memory.
In the light of all this, one should not take easy the mind’s habit to slip into worrying and rumination. We can control our minds and form a habit of gratitude to override the habits of worrying.
Cynical Thinking And Dementia
According to a study published in the American Academy of Neurology’s medical journal, people with high cynical distrust levels were three times more likely to develop dementia.
Dementia is a general term for memory loss, language, problem-solving, and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia.
As mentioned in the introduction, dementia has seen a rise and is now in the Top 3 of the cause of death in Europe and the Americas. It is worth paying attention to it.
Cynical distrust is defined as the belief that others are mainly motivated by selfish concerns. It is a constant suspicion against others and complaining about their selfish intentions, including the complaining about the government, which many people take as normal. Cynical thinking so far has also been associated with other health problems, such as heart disease.
A different study at the University of Cologne also revealed the vicious cycle that cynical thinking implies. Cynical individuals were more likely to develop health problems, and poor health was a factor for developing a more pessimistic worldview. Cynicism is, therefore, both a cause and consequence of bad health.
Major Impact Of Chronic Stress
Stress is undoubtedly one of the most common issues of this time, which everyone encounters at some point.
Stress is the natural body’s reaction to a perceived, harmful situation that may or may not be real. Our body gets ready to protect itself by releasing a chemical reaction, releasing stress hormones adrenaline, and cortisol. This response is known as the fight-or-flight response. As a result, heart rate increases, breathing quickens, muscles tighten, and blood pressure rises.
When the perceived fear is gone, the hypothalamus tells all the systems to go back to normal. However, if the stressor does not go away, and the Central Nervous System fails to return to normal, the response continues. If nothing changes, the person is in the so-called chronic stress mode.
Chronic stress adds to a whole variety of health issues. As summarised by WebMD, an online health website, these health issues may be:
- cardiovascular diseases (heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, etc.),
- skin and hair problems (acne, psoriasis, eczema, and permanent hair loss),
- gastrointestinal problems (GERD, gastritis, ulcerative colitis, etc.),
- obesity and eating disorders
- mental health problems (depression, anxiety, personality disorders).
In addition to that, chronic stress causes insomnia, increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, causes headaches, back and shoulder pain, and reproductive system problems.
Nevertheless, stress hormones weaken the body’s immune system by reducing the body’s response to foreign invaders. That is how people with chronic stress are more likely to get sick with viral illnesses, like flu and the common cold.
Negative attitudes and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness are some of the contributors causing chronic stress. Chronic stress upsets the body’s hormone balance, depletes the brain chemicals required for happiness, and damages the immune system.
There is still not enough evidence to claim that stress, negative thinking, and depression can cause cancer cells to form. However, a person dealing with chronic stress is likely to become a heavy smoker, which increases the risk of cancer tremendously. Studies have also shown that chronic stress for someone with cancer already might cause tumor cells to grow bigger faster.
Although stress is not always inevitable, we can lower the negative effect and prevent chronic stress by responding and dealing with stress. Research findings show that how the body responds during stress depends on how one can deal with the stress.
Some preventative and management techniques include incorporating daily exercise into the routine, making time daily for individual quiet time, and resting regularly, learning to accept things that can’t be controlled, practicing relaxation techniques, breathing exercises and meditation, etc.
You can find a more detailed explanation of how stress affects all body systems, including muscles, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, nervous, and reproductive systems, here on the American Psychological Association website.
Low Self-Esteem Is A Bigger Problem Than We Think
People who have low self-esteem are usually self-judging. It is typical for them to view themselves negatively, judge making mistakes, doubt the possibility of positive results, and see themselves as inferior to others.
Additionally, those who have low self-esteem are more likely to get into a relationship with a toxic partner and be afraid to leave the relationship. Long-term relationship struggles are an additional factor for the cause of depression.
Low self-esteem may not directly cause a disease; however, somebody who does not love himself/herself will neglect self-care, such as attending a doctor regularly, healthy food, exercises.
Studies show that higher self-esteem is associated with regular exercising and healthy eating.
According to clinical psychologist Dr. Lars Madsen, low self-esteem is frequently traced to abusive or dysfunctional early years, the effects of which can persist well into adulthood. It can also be attributed to ongoing stressful life events (e.g., relationship breakdowns; financial troubles; poor treatment from a partner, parent, or carer; being bullied, or being in an abusive relationship).
Low self-esteem usually is tied with repression and suppression of emotions as the subject feels wrong by showing the emotions resulting from a negative experience in childhood.
Researches prove that patients with difficulties in managing their emotions are likely to neglect their health and wellbeing. As a result, they are more likely to display a history of substance abuse, poor nutrition, and disordered eating, lack of exercise, abnormal sleep patterns, poor compliance with medical interventions, and behaviors that are injurious to themselves.
Besides, people with low self-esteem are more likely to struggle with depression and anxiety, adding risk factors for many other health issues.
Although low self-esteem does not sound like a big problem at the first moment, and many people have it, the long-term effects are damaging. Negative thinking caused by low self-esteem may give rise to depression, anxiety, stress that can cause more severe health problems. Additionally, self-care negligence caused by low self-esteem may show its effects on health and body as well.
If you want to learn how I overcame low self-esteem and completely changed my thinking, you may be interested in reading this article:
Takeaway
In our everyday lives, we are exposed to a lot of stress, and often, negative thinking has become a common habit we have learned in our childhood.
The global pandemic has added its’ stake making us worry and ruminate even more.
Researches have shown how, although not being the leading cause, different types of negative thinking may add risk to the development of some of the most common non-communicable diseases, such as Alzheimer’s Disease and cardiac malfunctions.
Also, negative thinking — cynical thinking, complaining, self-criticism, etc., affect the body’s immune system negatively and cause people to forget about necessary self-care. That adds more likelihood of illnesses and diseases.
Therefore, let’s care for ourselves as choosing the hopeful, positive thought over the negative, toxic is something in our power! We can change our brains by changing our thoughts!
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