Healthy Tomorrow

This week’s online bible study on Stressed-Less Living by Tracie Miles, hosted by Melissa Taylor,  has the online bible study group reading the chapter titled “The Silent Killer”.  In this chapter, Tracie shared a study she read that stated that “stress contributes to heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes and other illnesses, Stress also affects the immune system, which protects us from many serious diseases. “

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, I began searching for answers as to why I got cancer when I had no other risk factors besides being Caucasian.  Stress kept popping up in many of the articles and studies that I came across. Just this past February, I wrote a blog where I mentioned my realization about reducing stress and the benefits of giving thanks and trusting in God instead of stressing. Read that article here.

God’s timing is perfect.  I “happened” to come across this bible study that is dealing with stress.  It is taking me further into reducing my stress and I love that she is incorporating scriptures where God is speaking to us about reducing stress as well.

Each Thursday Melissa hosts a blog hop and suggests a few topics to blog about.  I chose Healthy Tomorrow as my topic. There were so many other topics I could have chosen to discuss from my blessings (which I can never be done talking about!) to parenting to verse mapping (which I LOVE to do!). But I feel like I am learning so much about good health and its affects on our body that I love being able to tie in what God says about this topic as well.  Tracie asks us to talk about what choices we need to make, or have already made to deal with stress.

Our reflection verse this week is Isaiah 30: 15. I loved the Complete Jewish Bible version: 

¹⁵ For this is what Adonai Elohim,
the Holy One of Isra’el, says:
“Returning and resting is what will save you;
calmness and confidence will make you strong —
but you want none of this!

Funny, as in  “I’ve never noticed this before kind of way funny", that God is telling us that resting will save us and calmness will make us strong!…. And He goes on to say, “but you want none of this!”  We all know that stress is a killer, or many of us do anyway, yet we choose to do nothing about it!  We accept stress as being a part of our lives today!  As Tracie Miles points out in her book, stress is a chronic disease yet we accept it as normal! Cancer is a disease too, but how many of us would just accept this as something we have to live with and refuse treatment?  So why do we do it with stress?

I have begun working on de-stressing in my life.  I’ve made some large life-changing decisions, which I’ve discovered bring their own stress levels into the picture. I’ve begun to eat healthier and make other healthy choices in my life too. I know the choices I’ve made are for the better, but I also feel there is more I can do. When given the challenge to talk about the choices we can make or have already made, immediately one word came to my mind. Typically anytime something comes that quickly to mind, God is behind it.  So let me share with you the challenge I feel God is quickening to my spirit to aid in stressing less and becoming healthier.  It sounds so easy, yet for me is rare these days...  Laughter.  Simple right? Yet, I can’t tell you the last time I laughed out loud.  I’ve smiled, I’ve chuckled, but it’s been years since I’ve had a good laugh.

Proverbs 17:22 says: A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

According to the Mayo Clinic “A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it doesn't just lighten your load mentally; it actually induces physical changes in your body. Laughter can:

• ·      Stimulate many organs.
• ·      Activate and relieve your stress response
• ·      Soothe tension

Laughter isn't just a quick pick-me-up, though. It's also good for you over the long haul. Laughter may

• ·      Improve your immune system.
• ·      Relieve pain.
• ·      Increase personal satisfaction.”

Laughter has also been shown to have beneficial effects on various other aspects of biochemistry. For example, laughter has been shown to lead to reductions in stress hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine. When laughing the brain also releases endorphins that can relieve some physical pain.^[19] Laughter also boosts the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T-cells, leading to a stronger immune system ^[20

Who knew?  Information is great!  We know that laughter is good medicine. Now, how do we make ourselves laugh?

Lord, I thank you for allowing me to "stumble" across this online bible study that is challenging me in many ways, to de-stress and to laugh more. Simple things that are not done so simply, yet Your word tells us to rest and to have a joyful heart.  I praise you that you take care of us both spiritually and physically. Lord, you desire us to have a fruitful and joyful life here on earth. This just gives me glimpses into what heaven must be like. Father, send whom you will into my life to aid in teaching me how to laugh again. I thank you and look forward to where you are taking me in this lesson to de-stress.  What a wonderful God we serve!

19^ "Why Laughter May Be the Best Pain Killer". Scientific American. Retrieved 11 October 2011.

20^ ^a b Smith Lee, B. (1990). Humor relations for nurse managers. Nursing Management, 21, 86