Doctor on Call: Worry yourself sick

Understanding that thoughts affect your chemicals can be an immensely powerful tool to maintain physical health.

A thought releases the same chemicals in your body as an action.

For example, merely thinking of your exam or bungee jump will give you the same physical symptoms long before you follow through on the action.

This is because the thought alone can produce adrenaline (fight or flight hormone) and cortisol, which in turn affects your blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, digestion, sweating and much more.

Continuously thinking a stressful or negative thought, or always imagining the worst-case scenario, can leave you in a permanent or recurrent fight or flight mode with these physical effects on your body, resulting in physical illness.

Do you get irritated when your doctor says your symptoms are “caused by stress”?

We do not mean that you do not actually experience the physical illness – we know you do! But it can be caused by your thoughts. There is a medical term for this: “psychosomatic”.

You have the illness physically, but it is caused or aggravated by mental health.

Common illnesses include migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, impotence, ulcers, eczema, and muscle tension, to name a few.

Luckily, the opposite is also true.

Positive thoughts release serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins – which have been linked with improving sleep, digestion, immune response, muscle relaxation, and more!

Best of all, focusing your positive thoughts on those around you releases oxytocin (the bonding hormone/love drug) which makes you physically calm and improves metabolism, gut health, and weight loss.

That means you can THINK your way to a healthier body. What you think, matters!