Getting to the point where you can forgive someone - even that person or yourself - can be very difficult. But the unhealthy amount of taking up your body makes you forgive the most important skill you should have.
According to Everett L.Worthington Jr., PhD, Professor Emeritus of the Commonwealth at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, in his psychology research focusing on forgiveness, the way people approach true forgiveness is different, but it usually falls into two categories: decision forgiveness and emotional forgiveness.
"You can experience a change in your emotions, and then decide to forgive, or you may decide to forgive first and experience these emotional changes later," said Drs. Worthington.
Because our relationships are so important in life, being able to forgive, and talking to others to forgive them, will help you and their health. Regarding this and many other topics, Worthington states: “Mental health is at work in the health of the body.”
Specifically, here are three major ways, supported by evidence that forgiveness (or the act of not forgiving) affects our health.
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1. Forgiveness Helps You to Manage Stress
The inability to forgive breeds feelings of anger, hatred, and pressure, which are well documented that can affect mental and physical health, previous research shows.
A study published in April 2016 in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine involved more than 330 people aged 16 to 79 years. Researchers have found that regardless of their age, people who are forgiving often experience a decrease in their perception of depression. And this decline led to a reduction in depression.
"While forgiveness is not the only strategy available to deal with adversity, in this type of forgiveness, it is one of the most effective solutions to reduce stress and improve health," notes the study authors.
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On the other hand, stress - and especially the stress hormone cortisol - has several adverse effects on systems throughout the body. Too much cortisol can reduce the size of parts of your brain including the hippocampus, which is responsible for the memory changes that occur in memory, Worthington said. It is because of this stress-cortisol link that not being able to forgive and stop certain pressures can affect memory, he adds.
In a study published in October 2018 in the journal Neurology, researchers investigated whether blood cortisol levels affect memory in over 2,200 healthy middle-aged people. In the study, researchers measured blood cortisol levels, and compared participants' scores on memory and visual acuity tests, and levels of grey matter in the brain as measured by brain scanning (a grey matter that helps the brain process information).
They found that people, especially women, who had high levels of cortisol over time had poor memory and poor performance in cognitive tests. In time, they also appeared to have less matter in other parts of the brain.
Cortisol also causes damage to other parts of the body, too. It affects the immune system at the cellular level, which means it can cause serious damage to all parts of the body and the immune system affects the unexpected, explains Worthington.
"It can affect everything from the sexual and reproductive system to the digestive system to your ability to fight illness and fatigue," said Worthington.
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2. Forgiveness Performs Awesome Nervous System That Is Good News For Your Heart
According to Worthington, remission affects the parasympathetic nervous system, too, which slows respiration and heart rate and increases digestion.
It is also known as the “rest and digestion” response (controlling normal bodily functions) - or the opposite of the anti-stress-or-flight response (which prepares the body to perform strenuous physical activity).
The sympathetic nervous system works in tandem so that your body can control such things as blood pressure and heart rate, and it can function as it should in stressful and stressful situations.
But when a person is under constant pressure - which can happen when someone has a temper tantrum - the body can stay in the fight or fly for too long.
"The parasympathetic nervous system is part of the nervous system's stability, thus shutting down hyperarousal areas," Worthington said. Anything one can do to silence oneself when undergoing a lot of stress activates the parasympathetic nervous system in this way (including making forgiveness) and can help mentally and physically because it brings sensitive and sympathetic systems.
Some studies suggest that these effects can be significant by affecting health outcomes, such as heart function.
In a meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers found that anger and hostility were linked to an increased risk of heart disease, as well as adverse effects in people with it.
A study published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine examined remission as a prediction of death and found statistically significant relationships. Forgiveness for others is associated with a reduced risk of death for all causes, the authors of the study noted.
3. Forgiveness Helps Your Small Spread
According to Worthington, the act of not forgiving or refusing to forgive is almost always known as gossip, or a play on words.
“We all shine, but the way we shine is individual. Some people do it in anger, some people light up hopelessly or feel depressed. Some do it with anxiety, ”says Worthington. And if addiction becomes a habit, it can lead to mental disorders.
“Lighting is the world’s worst mental health boy,” Worthington said.
Depending on the nature of your rumination (whether you are acting in a way that causes despair, depression, anxiety, or other emotions), these aggressive, repetitive thoughts can eventually lead to anger disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). , anxiety, depression, or mental disorders, in which stress and anxiety lead to illnesses such as abdominal pain or migraines.
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According to a study involving more than 1,800 Black adults, published in October 2019 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, Black women were more likely than Black men to experience stressful life events and participate in planning, resulting in a further increase in high blood pressure over 13 years.
"When people can forgive, they are still light to some degree, but they can let go of that bitterness and anger," Worthington said. "Forgiveness doesn't dispel rumour ours, but it can reduce your toxicity."
With additional reports by Angela Haupt.
