CORE Chiropractic Center
About Core Chiropractic |
HELPING PEOPLE IMPROVE THEIR LIVES
ArticleThanks For Healing Gratitude is something that can be practiced by anyone, anywhere, at any time. It is simple, easy and will possibly improve your health! Gratitude is not just a polite social convention, but it is a basic disposition, one that seems to make lives healthier, longer and more fulfilling. Gratitude is defined by Webster's dictionary as a sense of wonder, thankfulness, and an appreciation for life. Gratitude seems to affect health on all levels. People who are grateful experience higher levels of positive emotions: happiness, vitality and optimism. Rollin McCraty at the HeartMath Institute in Boulder Creek, California, found that people who were consciously grateful had increases in parasympathetic nervous stimulation. Increases of parasympathetic nervous stimulation are known to help control stress and hypertension. Parasympathetic also slows the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and promotes the healing processes of the body (increase in immune response, increase digestion and absorption of nutrients.) A study of volunteers found an increase in physical and psychological well being, 95% reported feelings of warmth and well being similar to what people reported after prolonged exercise, known as the "Helpers High". The researchers found a release of endorphins. Endorphins give us a sensation of feeling good; they are natural pain reducers and have an effect on appetite regulation. Endorphins are opiate-like chemicals produced in the brain that will return our physiology to normal, for example they will lower temperature during a fever and raise it when we are cold. Gratitude may also extend life as well. A study by the University of Kentucky of 180 Roman Catholic nuns over 60 years showed the ones with the most positive emotions lived nearly 7 years longer than the least happy nuns. How do we put gratitude into practice? Be persistent and practice in small ways and the practice will deepen. Expect nothing and be pleasantly surprised with even the smallest of gestures or details. Here are some ideas: be surprised when the water boils for tea in the morning. Be happy when the car starts. Be excited when the kids wake you up on a lazy Saturday morning (after all, they love you so much that they want to share the day with you). Pay attention to how green your broccoli is or how your bell pepper is the most beautiful of reds. And when you are in the grocery store, pay attention to the scents that waft pass your nose like basil, oregano and rosemary. Before you know it, you will be grateful for more and more and you will automatically be experiencing greater levels of health as a result. Increased health and vitality will be one more thing for which you can then be thankful. And, this positive cycle will keep going and going…. OTHER ARTICLES
|
|