Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/180483
Wellness By Mary Lee LaBay, PhD Tamela Thomas, Wellness Manager tamelat@wac.net 206.464.4639 Using our thoughts for good I t's not a new concept. Tony Robbins made his career out of it. International companies offer training in it. And countless videos, books, and healing traditions are based on it. What is it? It's the belief that our thoughts affect the world around us. Some go so far as to say our thoughts create the world around us. Whether or not you choose to accept this ultimate declaration of accountability, there's no denying that our thoughts influence our health. Mary Lee LaBay discusses some of the latest research about the connection between our thoughts and our health in this month's Wellness article. Once we understand the power of this connection, we can incorporate techniques to actually improve our health potential. 22 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | OCTOBER 2013 Our thoughts, ourselves Better health is closer than you might think I n your lifetime, you will likely experience a variety of illnesses and health conditions. In fact, in many cases, people anticipate ill health. We have been taught that we will catch a cold if we are exposed to someone who coughs, or that we will develop a condition just because it runs in our family. Newer research, however, questions those assumptions. Although there may be environmental causes for many ailments, there is also compelling evidence of underlying psychological and emotional connections to many physical symptoms and diseases. A 30-year study by psychologists Suzanne C. Segerstrom and Gregory E. Miller revealed that stress relates to changes in our immune systems and that the characteristics of stressful events "are important in determining the kind of change that occurs." By looking at the type and nature of stress an individual consistently experiences— whether environmental, emotional or psychological—a pathway can be followed to a specific health condition that will likely result. Obvious examples include repetitive motion causing carpal tunnel, and anxiety causing ulcers. Some of this newer research goes even further, placing the power of healing squarely on us as individuals. Studies now point to our individual consciousness as a leading factor in our health, right down to the cellular level. Although we have been taught to believe that genes cause many health problems, there is often a much more surprising factor at play—our thoughts.