Participants: George Guthrie, Tim Arnott
Series Code: WM
Program Code: WM000338
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00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health and is not 00:04 intended to take the place of personalized 00:06 professional care. The opinions and ideas 00:09 expressed are those of the speaker. 00:11 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own 00:13 conclusions about the information presented. 00:36 Hello, welcome to "Wonderfully Made." 00:39 My name is Dr. George Guthrie, 00:41 Medical Director of Lifestyle Center for America. 00:46 The scripture says the joy of the Lord is my strength. 00:52 Here to talk about it today with me is Dr. Tim Arnott. 00:55 Hi, Tim. Hi, George it's good to be here with you. 00:59 It's good to be here. The joy of the Lord is 01:03 my strength, now I often wondered talk about 01:07 strength, physical strength I can lift, 01:09 I can move things that's strength 01:11 and then the joy of the Lord is my strength 01:15 emotionally when I am under stress I can be, 01:19 the joy of the Lord can give me strength in that area. 01:23 I understand that we are learning from science 01:27 that there are lots of benefits from a 01:30 positive thankful spirit. That's right in fact this 01:35 whole topic that we are dealing with in this 01:38 program might be entitled healing emotions. 01:41 Those emotions that sometimes we don't 01:46 always have in our sphere, but science is telling us 01:50 that if we do have them we will have a lower risk 01:52 of some of the most important diseases that 01:55 we face everyday in this country. 01:58 So those negative emotions like anger 02:02 or kind of stress affect our bodies in a negative 02:07 sort of a way and maintaining a positive 02:10 joyful attitude does bring health. 02:13 That's right, Dr. Jonas and colleagues at the 02:16 National Center for Health Statistics in Atlanta 02:19 actually found that those individuals 02:22 who are the most relaxed and the most 02:25 cheerful actually had the lowest risk of developing 02:29 high blood pressure later on compared to those 02:32 individuals who are most tense and least cheerful. 02:37 Well, I suppose that makes sense because 02:39 the stress hormones themselves tender constrict 02:42 the blood vessels and make the blood pressure go up. 02:45 Absolutely and also it's important to remember 02:49 that high blood pressure is one of the most important 02:53 risk factors for coronary artery disease 02:56 or atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries 02:59 if you will and so one of the three main causes 03:04 of heart disease is high blood pressure, 03:07 the other is of course. Stroke is also more 03:11 likely people who have high blood pressure. 03:13 Absolutely, so blood pressure is a big important 03:18 risk factor for the number one and three killers of 03:21 Americans and other individuals in Western society. 03:25 I've noticed in my office when people come to 03:27 see me sometimes just my white coat makes 03:31 their blood pressure go up a little bit. 03:33 We have a name for this we call it white coat 03:35 hypertension and maybe that's just been a little 03:38 nervous, from being a little nervous when they 03:40 come to visit me. Absolutely, in fact, 03:43 individuals will discover that their highest blood 03:47 pressure will be when their physician takes 03:50 their blood pressure in the office wearing a 03:53 white coat. These studies have actually been done 03:56 and in fact, the next lowest blood pressure will be 03:59 when the nurse takes your blood pressure in 04:02 the office and the next lowest will be the first 04:06 two weeks that you are taking your blood 04:09 pressure in your home, and after two weeks of 04:12 taking your blood pressure in your home 04:14 you will actually see the lowest possible baseline 04:20 blood pressure for you, so actually home 04:23 blood pressure monitoring is very important and we 04:28 would actually recommend that for those individuals 04:31 who either are at risk of high blood pressure maybe 04:33 carrying some extra weight in the middle area 04:36 or those who already have the diagnosis. 04:38 So when I go to visit or when you go to see the doctor, 04:41 keep a positive thankful attitude for the healing 04:45 that's coming rather than being afraid. 04:47 Is that the take home message here? 04:49 Exactly. Okay. Now other benefits of the healing 04:53 emotions were discovered by Dr. Williams 04:56 and his colleagues at the Center for Disease Control 05:00 and Prevention at Atlanta, and what he found, well, 05:03 what he did was to measure the trait anger 05:06 scores for individuals who are less then 05:09 16 years of age. They have different tests 05:11 they can measure how much trait anger 05:14 you have by how you answer these tests 05:18 and individuals with the lowest trait anger scores 05:22 were actually at 1/3 the risk of a stroke compared 05:27 to those who had the highest trait anger scores. 05:31 I have also heard that strokes are not uncommon 05:37 when someone is in a very angry state that is 05:40 the blood pressure raises up, the stress hormones 05:44 increase and it's more likely, we have a blood 05:47 clot break loose and go to the brain. 05:49 Absolutely, George and in fact, 05:51 it's also associated with the release of the stress 05:56 hormones in a fight or flight situation, 05:59 where the blood is more likely to clot as well 06:02 and most strokes and nearly every heart attack 06:06 is the result of formation of a blood clot. 06:09 But we see here that just having the lowest trait 06:12 anger score can significantly lower the risk of 06:16 stroke, only a 3rd the risk and in fact, 06:19 what they found was that this was the most significant 06:25 risk factor for stroke in individuals 06:28 who are otherwise at lowest risk of blood vessel 06:33 diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. 06:36 So that angry episode, in fact, George I remember 06:38 a patient of mine who recently came into the 06:42 office there at the Lifestyle Center and 06:45 this individual had developed some chest pain 06:48 and they called me emergently out of a lecture 06:52 and I raised up and we did an EKG on this individual, 06:56 electrocardiogram and we looked at his electrical 07:00 impulses through the heart and fortunately 07:04 he apparently was not having a coronary event 07:08 and his chest pain subsided after they gave him a 07:11 little bit of nitroglycerin, but it was interesting as 07:15 I did a further history on this gentleman, 07:17 I discovered that the chest pain began after 07:21 he had an angry phone conversation 07:24 and he was enraged during this conversation 07:28 and then the chest pain began, so this is real this 07:33 happens individuals who are involved in a high 07:37 intensity, negative emotion event can increase their 07:41 risk of some of these events. 07:43 So, there are some choices to be made 07:45 when something happens to one that might make 07:50 the anger rise up inside. It would be better to 07:53 choose to look for something to be thankful 07:57 for rather than to letting the anger rise. 08:00 To think positively rather than to let the negative 08:04 emotion roll over our bodies. We are counseled 08:07 that it is a positive duty to resist those negative 08:13 thoughts and so dismissing negative thoughts can be 08:17 something that can be very, very helpful. 08:19 We will talk about more of the health that can 08:23 come to us at the end of this program. 08:27 We don't want people to get discourage 08:28 and develop a negative emotions by listing to 08:32 all of this information. About negative emotions. 08:34 About negative emotions. Now Dr. Williams and his 08:37 colleagues there at the CDC found some other 08:40 very interesting information, individuals whose anger 08:45 experiences were brief infrequent and of low 08:49 intensity were actually at less than one-half 08:53 the risk of a heart attack or death from coronary 08:58 artery disease compared to the those individuals 09:01 whose anger experiences were intense and frequent, 09:05 and much more vigorous, and so again low anger 09:12 intensity, infrequent anger, very protective for the 09:16 heart and for the brain. So the person who feels 09:20 the anger rising has an opportunity to check it 09:24 before it actually blows up completely, 09:26 and the shorter and the less frequent, 09:29 less chance of problems, so that's good news, 09:32 anything else. Well, I think it's important again 09:35 to summarize what Dr. Williams feels is the basis 09:40 for this connection between anger and heart disease, 09:44 heart attacks and strokes and he believes as George 09:48 mentioned that when you're enraged in those 09:51 you have that anger response the stress 09:54 hormones go up, the blood vessels constrict 09:58 and if there is cholesterol in the artery wall there 10:01 can be fracturing of the wall of the endothelium, 10:05 the lining of the artery and that cholesterol can 10:09 rush out into the blood flow space, 10:11 a clot form and you've got a heart attack 10:14 or very frequently a stroke. 10:17 Well, let's look at some more information about 10:20 how healing emotions can help lower our 10:25 risk of some of these very important diseases. 10:29 For example; Dr. Gillette and his colleagues at 10:32 Duke University Medical Center there in North 10:36 Carolina, found that you could actually decrease 10:40 or I should say in another way increase the amount 10:43 of blood get into the heart if you had the lowest 10:47 tension and the lowest frustration. 10:51 In another words, individuals who already have heart 10:54 disease they were studied and in situations 10:58 where they were at the lowest attention, 11:00 the most relaxed, the least stressed 11:04 they had an greater blood flow to the heart 11:07 muscle compared to those patients with heart disease 11:10 who were stressed, who had more anxiety and 11:14 frustration, and so again the importance of healing 11:18 emotions keeping the stress hormones low, 11:21 so you have maximal blood flow to the heart muscle. 11:25 So, the blood vessels are actually open better, 11:28 the blood flow is better when someone is relax 11:31 and peaceful. Absolutely. Now Dr. Kubsanski and his 11:36 colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health 11:39 found that those individuals who were worried least 11:44 about world conditions about the economy, 11:47 about the recession. Now you are getting 11:50 pretty close to home. That's right, and about 11:53 the countries future those who are worried least 11:57 about these things they had a 60 percent 12:00 lower risk of developing a non-fatal heart attack. 12:04 That will be a heart attack that you have, 12:06 but don't die from, 60 percent lower risk 12:10 if you are least concerned and worried about the 12:13 economy, about the recession, about the situation, 12:19 the political situation and the world conditions, 12:22 and also these individuals least concerned, 12:25 least worried about the economy, about these 12:28 different issues that facing our country 12:31 they had a 30 percent lower risk of all coronary 12:36 heart disease, in fact, they found that there was 12:38 dose-response the more worried you were about the 12:43 economy about world conditions about the 12:45 future of our planet, the greater the risk of 12:49 a heart attack and coronary artery disease. 12:53 So, understanding and knowing that God cares 12:57 for us and has a plan for our lives they were not 12:59 alone in this world can actually make us healthier. 13:03 We don't have to worry about the world around this 13:06 because we know God in-charge that's a good 13:08 news. Dr. Blumenthal has more good news for us. 13:14 Healing emotions they are important. 13:17 We want to, we want to cherish them. 13:19 We want to ask the creator to share with us to give 13:23 us those healing emotions. Dr. Blumenthal at Duke 13:27 University Medical Center actually studied some 13:30 individuals who had some negative emotions 13:32 they had had a heart attack. They were depressed or 13:36 they had a very little social support. 13:38 They didn't have a strong family surrounding them. 13:41 He wanted to know if these individuals, 13:45 what their risk of another heart attack would be 13:48 and so he studied them. He gave them a questionnaire 13:50 to fill out and he found that those individuals 13:53 who had a heart attack, who were depressed 13:56 or had just a small amount of social support. 13:59 If they were exercising regularly they were 14:04 actually a 30 percent lower risk of having a repeat 14:08 mild cardiac infarction or heart attack. 14:10 And so here we see an antidote against negative 14:14 emotions, exercise, regular physical exercise can 14:19 actually undo some of the negative effects 14:22 of the negative emotions. We may even have a good 14:26 explanation for this. The adrenal gland lets these 14:31 hormones, the stress hormones into the blood, 14:35 adrenaline is one of them and noradrenaline is the 14:39 other. Noradrenaline is the one that comes out 14:42 with emotional stress. It tends to constrict the 14:46 blood vessels in the muscle, driving up the 14:48 blood pressure increasing the risk of heart attack. 14:53 The stress hormone that's released from 14:55 the adrenal glands during physical exercise is 14:59 adrenaline and it opens up the blood vessels 15:02 in the muscles, improving the blood flow and 15:06 apparently here decreasing the risk of a heart attack, 15:10 so that's good news. Now Dr. Kubsanski 15:14 and his colleagues at Harvard University found 15:17 another benefit to healing emotions. 15:19 What they've studied is the effect of optimism. 15:24 They studied men and found that those with 15:26 the most optimistic actually had the best 15:29 lung function, yes, lung function was best in those 15:34 who were optimistic. They also found that these 15:37 men who are optimistic had the slowest decline in 15:41 lung function overtime and so if you want to get 15:44 more oxygen to your body if you want to get more 15:48 oxygen to your frontal lobe and be able to think 15:50 more clearly you can have better lung function 15:54 if you have an optimistic spirit. 15:57 And so this is another benefit of the healing 16:00 emotions. Now my wife tells me that I am the optimist 16:04 and she is the pessimist, I mean the realist. 16:06 Yes. So there may be some benefit just to kind 16:10 of thinking at the positive side of things. 16:12 Absolutely. Good, the thankful side. 16:14 Dr. Maritza and his colleagues at Mayo Clinic 16:18 actually found other benefits to optimism 16:22 and they studied individuals and tested them with a 16:25 test the MMPI tests and found out their optimism, 16:30 pessimism score and what they found is that 16:33 individuals who were the most optimistic had the 16:36 lowest mortality, the lowest risk of dying 16:40 over a 30 year period and so if you want to live 16:44 longer, if you want to have more oxygen 16:48 and be able to think more clearly have lower risk 16:50 of heart attack and stroke and better lung function, 16:55 optimism and healing emotions are very, 16:59 very important. A 30 years living longer with 17:02 optimism that's, there must be some affects on the 17:06 immune system as well, cancer and other things. 17:08 I think it's a no; there is no question about it 17:14 George that when we have negative emotions there 17:17 is a depressant affect on the immune system. 17:20 We will be looking at that in just a few moments. 17:23 In fact, we will be learning about a cell 17:26 that actually fights cancer, it's called the NK-cell, 17:29 the natural killer cell. This cell actually does 17:34 surveillance against cancer in your body. 17:37 It looks at cells and to see if they have had a 17:41 cancerous transformation and if they have it takes 17:45 that cell out, it destroys it, and these cells are 17:49 actually responsive to emotions as we will find 17:52 out in a few moments. Now Dr. Bolli and his 17:56 colleagues at the University of Plymouth in the United 18:00 Kingdom looked at this whole issue of optimism 18:03 and pessimism in individuals going for surgery. 18:07 Patients were going for hernia operations 18:10 and he found that the most patients that were the 18:12 most optimistic actually were able to return to their 18:17 normal activities much more quickly, 18:20 muck earlier than individuals who were pessimistic 18:23 and in fact he found that pessimism strongly 18:27 correlated with delayed return to normal activities 18:32 after a surgery, so even something is simple as 18:36 getting back to work after a major operation 18:39 can be affected by our emotions. 18:42 So, healing itself appears to occur faster 18:45 when we have a positive thankful spirit. 18:49 Dr. Levy and his colleagues at the University of 18:53 Pittsburg Medical Center actually studied breast 18:57 cancer survivors. They found individuals 19:00 who had breast cancer and they followed them 19:03 for a number of years and found that those 19:06 who are the most optimistic were the most likely to 19:10 still be alive four years after their breast cancer 19:15 was initially found and so optimism can actually help 19:20 you even after you've been diagnosed with a 19:23 dreaded illnesses, a serious illness, 19:26 for example; as cancer in this case breast cancer. 19:29 So as always the approach cancer diagnosis from 19:33 a positive, we are gonna link this attitude actually 19:36 are able to live longer to fight the cancer better, 19:39 great. Now the Author Hoffen in his book 19:44 "Mind Body Health" the effects of attitudes, 19:48 emotions, and relationships. He reports a study of 19:53 several oncologists about 649 to be exact and they 19:59 were actually talking about their experience with over 20:02 a 100,000 cancer patients and the thing that they 20:07 cited as the single most important issue 20:11 when it comes to successful treatment 20:14 of a cancer patient is an attitude of hope 20:17 and optimism that's what 650 oncologists cited 20:24 as the most important factor for successful treatment 20:27 of cancer over a 100,000 cancer patients. 20:31 Even more important in the chemotherapy itself 20:34 is the attitude with which people approach. 20:37 Absolutely, Dr. Pert, at the National Institute of 20:41 Mental Health is the one we were eluding too early. 20:44 He discovered that white blood cells, 20:47 monocytes in this case are actually sensitive to 20:51 neuropeptides, neurochemicals 20:54 that are coming out of the limbic system of the brain. 20:57 Now the limbic system is the system of the brain 21:00 that deals with your emotions and so when you have an 21:04 emotion, when you have a positive emotion there are 21:07 chemicals made by the cells of the limbic system 21:11 which then are put into the blood stream and go 21:15 and attach to the white blood cells encouraging 21:18 increasing their ability to do the job of protecting 21:23 us from disease. On the converse, 21:26 if you have negative emotions you have a 21:28 similar production of these chemicals 21:31 and it has a negative or depressive effect on the 21:35 white blood cells or the immune system. 21:38 Reminds me of the Bible text, "A merry heart doeth good 21:42 like an antibiotic." Like an antibiotic, yes, 21:46 like a medicine, and a merry heart that's 21:50 exactly right, you know, the wisest man that ever live 21:54 knew the benefit of healing emotions. 21:57 And you know we can ask, we are told in scripture 22:01 that we have not because we ask not. 22:04 God says ask and it shall be given, 22:07 I am just I would say George that we could probably 22:10 ask our creator to give us a optimistic outlook, 22:14 to give us his positive emotions and I am sure 22:19 that he won't tell us to hold on that request. 22:24 The Bible goes so far to say that we are saved by hope 22:28 and looking forward the positiveness what God is 22:32 doing for us has done for us, saves us, 22:35 sometimes also in scripture saving and healing are 22:41 actually the same word it mean very similar. 22:43 So, the salvation there is healing and hope. 22:47 In fact, we were told in Hebrews that the savior, 22:51 but for the joy that was set before Him 22:55 he was able to endure the cross, despising the shame, 22:59 and so hope is important if you are dealing with 23:03 a difficult situation, a cross experience look at the 23:08 joy that the creator has set before us 23:11 and that can have powerful healing properties for you. 23:16 Dr. Burns and his colleagues at the University of Miami 23:20 was the physician that I've mentioned earlier. 23:24 He studied women and found that those women 23:27 who were the most optimistic had the highest 23:30 natural killer cell activity, in another words women 23:35 who were the most optimistic about their 23:37 lives had nuclear natural killer cells who were able 23:42 to best do their job of looking for cancer cells 23:46 in your body to knock them out and to destroy them 23:49 before they could get a foothold and a cancer 23:52 develop. So, not just those that fight infection, 23:55 but cells that fight cancer directly are encouraged 23:58 by this positive thankful attitude. 24:01 And this wasn't just one study George. 24:04 Other researcher such as Dr. Segerstrom at UCLA 24:09 found similar findings those who are most optimistic 24:13 have the most powerful white blood cell affect, 24:18 at the white blood cell whose job it is to look 24:21 for cancer cells that have had a cancerous 24:24 transformation and to take out those cells to 24:27 destroy those cells. Optimism helps your body 24:30 fight cancer. This is a powerful recommendation 24:34 for the healing emotions. Is there anything else 24:37 that positive emotions does for us? 24:39 Well, yes, there are number of different things, 24:42 in fact, Dr. Seligman and his colleagues at the 24:45 University of Pennsylvania found that those who were 24:49 the most optimistic, those adults who were the most 24:52 optimistic actually had the strongest immune system. 24:55 So, now we are not looking just at the 24:58 natural killer cell that does cancer surveillance, 25:00 but we are looking at all the white blood cells 25:03 and as they studied the immune system, 25:06 they found that individuals who are the most optimistic 25:10 actually had the strongest immune systems, 25:13 they also found George that those who were the 25:15 most pessimistic had the weakest immune system. 25:20 So, it does make a difference the thoughts 25:23 of our mind. It's an interesting field that 25:25 is just blooming now and I think they call 25:27 it psyconeuroimmunology. How the mind affects the 25:34 body's ability to deal with the cancers and infections. 25:39 Now in the time that we have left George, 25:43 we want to deal with this whole issue of well, 25:47 okay, I have a lot of negative emotions, 25:50 I am anxious, I am worried, I am angry a lot, 25:53 I fly off the handle. How can I have these healing 25:56 emotions? How can I be at rest and at peace? 26:00 How can I have low anger level? How can I have more 26:06 comfort and more hope and more optimism? 26:10 How is it possible that we can change from 26:14 having negative emotions to healing emotions? 26:17 Well, we have been given many wonderful 26:21 promises to help us escape these negative emotions. 26:25 Promises of help in time of trouble, 26:28 promises of care when it seems like no one cares, 26:33 if we high those scriptures, 26:36 those promises in our mind, those can come to 26:39 the surface, be brought back to our memory. 26:41 We can choose to say them to ourselves. 26:44 I know for me personally in times of stress has 26:47 been helpful to say the Lord is my shepherd. 26:50 I shall not one. When I am wrestling with it 26:54 that for me is a time of rest. Scriptures help us 26:58 with that. Then one of the scripture that I have 27:01 found very comforting when I am in a situation 27:04 that is trying to increase my negative emotions, 27:09 I remember the scripture what time I am afraid, 27:14 I will trust in thee. And there are other scriptures; 27:18 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4 and 5, it says, 27:22 that the weapons of our warfare are mighty through 27:28 God bringing into captivity every thought. 27:31 God is promised to take captive our thoughts 27:35 and if he is taking captive our thoughts 27:38 you know that out at the other end will come 27:40 positive thoughts, positive emotions. 27:43 We were also told that as we behold the savior, 27:47 we will become more and more like him in his 27:51 presence his fullness of joy. So, we want to 27:55 encourage you if you are struggling with 27:58 negative emotions take time every morning to come 28:02 into God's presence, for he has promised that there 28:07 we have joy and we will find 28:11 how wonderfully we are made. |
Revised 2014-12-17