There has unquestionably been a lot of worrying going on over the past eight or nine months. Some justified, some not.
Worrying–feeling threatened to any degree– translates to stress, which comes with a huge hidden cost to your health, and indeed your longevity. In fact, the dangers of worrying too much may be greater than what we worry about.
We have Dr. Robert Adler to thank for bringing modern science and medicine around to what people have known intuitively for a long time; “If you don’t relax you’re going to worry yourself to death.”
David Ropeik, author of How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don’t Always Match the Fact(s), writes in a Psychology Today, December 2011 article: “Stress. It is probably one of the biggest risks we face. The more worried you are that you might get sick, the more likely it is that you will, or if you do get sick that you’ll end up sicker, or even dead, from an illness you might have survived if you just didn’t worry so much.
“The list of damage that worry can do, because of the biology of stress,” continues Ropeik, “is long and scary. Which means that not worrying more than we have to may be the best thing we can do for our health.”
Let’s pause here and pose a thorny, troublesome question: “But is that what some nefarious concealed force wants? …“not worrying more than we have to may be the best thing we can do for our health.”
Could it be the unrelenting 24-hour fear mongering-pandemic-pandering media are intentionally keeping us in the Fight or Flight mode, knowing that if it continues, we’re all in for all sorts of trouble, including a depressed immune system?
Ropeik explains, “A depressed immune system makes it harder for your body to fight off all sorts of diseases, or battle them once you do get sick.”
In fact, says Ropeik, “Chronic stress reduces your ability to form some new memories, and recall others. At high levels, stress literally dumbs you down.” (How opportune! Just in time for a crucial election.)
Ropeik references the danger of what he calls “The Perception Gap“: when our fears don’t match the facts. He suggests, “When our innately subjective/ instinctive/emotional system of risk perception leads us to worry about some threats more than the evidence suggests, we need to step back and rely on our self-awareness to minimize the dangers of disproportionate worrying.”
I agree.
The Psalmist David encourages, “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret–it leads only to evil.” (1)
Early twentieth-century Scottish born evangelist and teacher Oswald Chambers once reflected, “Solitude with God repairs the damage done by the fret and noise and clamor of the world.”
…and the Apostle Paul, who strenuously fought for his conviction that the gospel was for all people, wrote to the Christian congregation he had established in Philippi, the first Christian church in Europe, “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.
“It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” (2)
(1)Psalm 37:7-8 MSG (2) Philippians 4:6 MSG
Former Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble is writing this ongoing column about the various ways government works, as well as other topics. At times the column is editorial in nature.
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