BATTLE TWO: Mind vs. Medicine

I was in the mood for another war, so here it is…..CAN YOU USE MIND POWER TO KEEP YOURSELF HEALTHY??? OR, do you prefer to load up on medicine? I have to start this post with a back story. A few years ago, I was sitting there at our local coffee shop, battling another lung infection, the same one I got every year since the time I had pneumonia for 8 weeks. My friend, now workout partner, and I were chatting, and I was complaining about getting sick at the same time every year. I asked why he never got sick, and he replied “because I don’t believe in getting sick”…….hold on there, WHAT DID HE SAY??? He went on the explain that if he ever feels like he might be getting something, he just doesn’t let his body get sick, he wills the sickness away. He refuses to get the flu shot, refuses to take medicine at all. Ok, I thought he was just a little nuts the first time he said this, but it made me think, and it made me research. I have since actually observed him willing sickness away….very successfully! Was he using the placebo effect to his benefit? I used to do pharmaceutical research, and I do know that the placebo effect is real, which is why it has to be included in any research on pharmaceuticals, but could you actually use this effect to your benefit???? Can positive thinking and stress reduction also help?

Let’s first look at the placebo effect…what is it? It is a beneficial effect, produced by a placebo drug or treatment, that cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must therefore be due to the patient’s belief in that treatment. According to Psychology Today, a study was done that proves just how strong the placebo effect is. For the subgroup of people who entered the study already convinced of the effectiveness of echinacea for their cold symptoms, the duration of their symptoms was much shorter and the severity of their symptoms was much less whether they were given echinacea or not. It didn’t matter at all. What mattered was that they believed that they were being given echinacea. In the video below, fake knee surgery worked just as well as real knee surgery for patients with knee arthritis.

Now, let’s add overall positive thinking into the mix. Research has shown that positive thinking can actually boost the immune system. In a study, a group of law students was studied. As their optimism went up, so did their cell mediated immune response. As their optimism went down, their cell mediated immune response also went down. You can read about the study here.

Now let’s talk about stress. Research has shown that stress releases the “fight or flight” hormone, cortisol, into our bodies. In a normal fight or flight response, the body wants to slow everything down to allow you to deal with the stressful situation at hand. I experienced this first hand when I was attacked in an armed burglary….I’ll talk about this another day…btw I am a fighter, not a flighter…lol. But if you have a frequent release of cortisol from chronic stress, the immune system stays in low gear and leaves you vulnerable to attack from viruses and bacterial infections.

So, let’s take all this information and figure out how to use it to keep us healthy. If you don’t want to get sick, don’t! If you use the placebo effect, all you have to do is believe you won’t get sick and let your brain and body chemistry do the rest. Seems impossible but it works! Since I decided three years ago that I would not get sick, I haven’t…really. I have had a few things try to creep in, but I have successfully knocked them out with the belief that I could! I have also taught my kids to do it! My kids actually have had perfect attendance for 2 years now at school. My 8 year old successfully knocked out everything from colds to stomach bugs, because I told him he could, so he did! My son who suffers from migraines knocked out a doozie a few months ago within an hour because, as he put it “I told myself I would not let that migraine take hold”. My son threw up for some reason the other day, but decide he would not do it again, and was better in a matter of 30 minutes. My daughter contracted the flu, and fared pretty well considering it nearly took out her entire school.

Next, train yourself to think positively. If you are always a negative Nancy, your immune system isn’t going to work to it’s full potential! Try to find the positive in everything. Only you control how you react to every situation, so choose wisely, and change yourself to be positive. I have been training myself to do this over the last few years, and not only am I healthier, I am happier as well! I can be a pessimist, or as I like to call myself, a realist, but I have been working hard to change my thinking, and I feel better for it!

Lastly, work to reduce your stress. There is no way to avoid stress entirely, but do things to try to reduce it. Here is a stress reducing guide from WebMD. Meditate, listen to music, take a spa day, do an at home face mask (above is a pic of my favorite face mask, notice the stressed face though) breathe, laugh, reach out….whatever it takes, do it! For me, the gym is where I deal with stress…check out my angry gym face below. I have walked into the gym so stressed I was nearly crying, and I have left refreshed and ready to deal with the situation at hand. Find whatever it is that takes the stress away, and try to do it at least a little every day.

MIND vs MEDICINE…..I prefer to use MIND as much as possible, although there are times when medicine is the only option. For instance, my thyroid is no longer functioning, so I need to take medication every day. But I refuse to get the flu shot, so I prefer to use mind power to keep me from catching it! So, in conclusion, there is a time and place for medicine…..but in my opinion, do everything you can to avoid taking it if you can! I am not giving medical advice because I am not a doctor, I am just trying to avoid having to go see one! Happy thoughts everyone!