Living in the 21st century, illegal cooking oil, poisoned milk powder, smog and water pollution are eating away at our health. There is another thing that we often ignore its existence but are affected by it all the time. It is [negative emotion].
What is negative?
Generally speaking, it refers to a kind of emotion that makes people unhappy or even painful, such as anger, sadness, fear, such as hostility, vigilance, nervousness, such as jealousy, guilt, entanglement…
Negative emotions are like snowballs. They bring us bad feelings and lead us to make irrational decisions and unhelpful actions, such as avoidance, denial, depression and procrastination. They not only do not help solve problems, but also create more problems, making negative emotions more complicated and stronger, and making [snowballs] roll bigger and bigger.
Our body is not a suitable [container] for preserving negative emotions: there are too many [containers], and it will [overflow] with various physical discomfort, which is medically called [somatization]; When emotional troubles are solved, physical discomfort will disappear.
Psychology and body are closely related.
The occurrence and development of some diseases are related to people’s emotional state, such as hypertension, asthma, functional dyspepsia, etc.
Many people believe that psychology is a feeling, is [virtual], the body is [material], is [real]; Something that does not affect [reality].
In fact, there is a great relationship between psychology and body. The connection between them lies in the interaction between the body’s nervous system, endocrine system and immune system.
Long-term or high-intensity negative emotions such as sadness, anxiety and rage will affect the body [autonomic nervous system], thus changing the function of endocrine and immune organs and tissues of the body, resulting in a series of general discomfort. Long-term persistence may even lead to diseases.
Let’s introduce some diseases that may be induced by [negative emotions].
Hypertension
When people are mad, they will have a feeling of soaring blood: red face, biting teeth, clenching fists and stamping feet.
At this time, we are nervous, anxious and furious. In this series of negative emotions, the [sympathetic nerve] in the autonomic nervous system will be excited, and a large amount of norepinephrine will be released.
This substance will accelerate the heart rate and contract blood vessels, causing blood pressure to rub up.
Psychologically, there is a kind of person defined as [type A personality], who is irritable, strict, aggressive and often angry. Medical research has shown that people with this personality trait seem to be more likely to suffer from hypertension. However, doctors always urge patients with hypertension and coronary heart disease to be calm, because anger is a [deadly] thing for them.
Gastropathy, diarrhea
Gastrointestinal tract can be described as [the mirror of human emotions], and its functional state can reflect the quality of emotions to a certain extent.
Whenever we are sad, depressed, sad and depressed, gastrointestinal function will change obviously.
Under emotional stimulation, the endocrine system of the body is disordered, which will make gastrointestinal peristalsis faster or slower, and the secretion of digestive juice may increase or decrease, resulting in a great decline in digestive capacity or excessive hyperfunction.
As a result, the food that should have reached the intestinal tract still stays in the stomach. When digestion is about the same, the amount of food in the stomach still seems to have not changed, which will lead to satiety, flatulence, nausea and other symptoms. If there is too much gastric acid secreted by food stimulation, there will be gastric acid regurgitation. In addition, there will also be symptoms such as loose stool, more stool frequency, abdominal pain from time to time, and incessant fart release.
In medicine, the problem of such functional changes and no pathological changes in gastrointestinal tract is called [functional dyspepsia] [irritable bowel syndrome]. Ordinary antidiarrheal and antibacterial methods do not have an effect, but psychiatric treatment of negative emotions such as anxiety and depression can effectively relieve symptoms.
Peptic ulcer
Similar to hypertension and coronary heart disease, the occurrence of gastric ulcer seems to be closely related to emotional state.
If you have peptic ulcer, you have to chew and swallow slowly every day. You have to eat regularly and quantitatively, eat less and eat more, and avoid spicy and stimulating food.
Although being in a bad mood does not necessarily lead to peptic ulcer, In medicine, however, there are two known gastric ulcers-Cushing’s ulcer and Colin’s ulcer-that are closely related to the body’s stress state: clinically, these two peptic ulcers occur after brain injury and severe burns respectively. However, under strong emotional stimulation, similar reactions may occur.
Tension headache
In our daily life, we have a headache when we encounter unsatisfactory things. In fact, there is still some truth in saying so.
Headache is a common symptom, and tension headache is one of the most common types of chronic headache.
When we are under too much pressure, or very angry, nervous, depressed and anxious, the blood vessels and muscles of the head and neck will contract. Many people say that at this time, it is like being put on a [magic spell], and the head is painful and numb.
Annoying asthma
In addition to allergens or infections, there are also psychological factors that induce bronchial asthma attacks.
When a person is in a state of tension and anger, bronchial smooth muscle will contract and airway resistance will increase, resulting in chest tightness, cough and dyspnea.
How to prevent [diseases arise from the heart]?
The best way to prevent negative emotions is, of course, to control negative emotions.
Negative emotion is also a part of emotion. We cannot put an end to it and avoid it, but we can improve our tolerance and weaken its influence on our body and mind.
What exactly should we do?
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Change bad personality: easy anxiety and nervousness, rage and impulse, sensitivity and paranoia and other bad personality, will not only cause mental diseases, but also increase the risk of physical illness.
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Develop good living habits: regular life, regular exercise, no smoking, less drinking and adequate sleep.
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Minimize psychological stimulation: If there are obvious stress events in the working and living environment, such as interpersonal tension, unemployment and lovelorn, appropriate adjustment or adaptation is needed to reduce unnecessary psychological stimulation.
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Learn to manage stress and emotion: Learn relaxation skills, be sure of your state, and try to use some effective activities to realize self-regulation.
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Improve the ability to deal with various events: for example, you can cultivate some sense of humor, learn to laugh at yourself, reduce big things to small ones, and reduce small things to small ones.
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Seek support: For psychological or emotional troubles, don’t be ashamed to seek help from friends or relatives around you. Their listening, care, understanding and respect are also a good way to prevent diseases from occurring from the heart.
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Prevention and seeking solutions: If there is a family history of related mental diseases or mental symptoms are found, vigilance needs to be strengthened; If you cannot solve the problem through self-help, please put down your psychological burden and seek the help of a professional psychological consultant.
Responsible Editor: Ding Ruoshui
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