Trending
Recognize any of these: Metoprolol, Carvedilol, Lotensin, Vasotec, Norvasc? You probably recognize at least one of those medicines, even if you're not a pharmacist.
Nearly half of all American adults suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure), so if you're not taking one of those prescriptions yourself, you're probably living with someone who is!
While physical factors like weight, salt or caffeine intake, and insufficient exercise contribute to high blood pressure, a link between emotional stress and hypertension has long been recognized.
The Mayo Clinic warns, "Stress can cause a steep rise in blood pressure. But when stress goes away, blood pressure returns to what it was before the stress. However, short spikes in blood pressure can cause heart attacks or strokes and may also damage blood vessels, the heart and the kidneys over time. The damage is like the damage from long-term high blood pressure."
Just like weight gain or salt intake, emotional stress factors that contribute to hypertension can be mitigated. Along with relaxation, acupuncture and biofeedback techniques, researchers at the Universities of Maynooth and Limerick (Ireland) have found an additional key to reducing hypertension related to emotional stress: Gratitude.
The limited study involving 68 undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 57 included lab tasks while researchers measured cardiovascular activity and recovery in response to stress.
The results indicated that "a state of gratitude predicts lower systolic blood pressure responses throughout the stress-testing period."
Writing in the International Journal of Psychophysiology, the researchers concluded that "gratitude promotes a stress-buffering effect on both reactions to and recovery from acute psychological stress."
Psychology seems to have caught up with what King Solomon knew 900 years before Christ: "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones" (Proverbs 17:22, NIV). The Irish research, only reported earlier this year, "discovered" the truth Methodist minister Johnson Oatman expressed in his famous hymn written in 1897, "When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done...So, amid the conflict whether great or small, Do not be discouraged, God is over all; Count your many blessings, angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey's end."
Gratitude not only pays physical dividends, lowering blood pressure along with the accompanying risk of stroke or heart attack, it also provides important spiritual benefits as well: Gratitude connects us to God and protects us from sin. Writing in Romans 1:21, the Apostle Paul describes the path the world walked toward sin: "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."
When people stopped counting their blessings and expressing their gratitude, they turned to sinful activities in an attempt to make themselves feel better about life. Paul says in Romans 1:24-25, "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator..." Read the rest of Romans 1; Once God is forgotten, the sin keeps growing!
Yet in spite of the psychological and spiritual benefits of gratitude, many folks fail to express their thankfulness. Luke 17:11-19 tells about Jesus healing 10 lepers of their dreaded and deadly disease.
Out of the ten who are healed, only one returned to say "thanks." Jesus called attention to the omission saying, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?"
Where were the nine? Did they forget to say "thanks," caught up in the joy of the moment? Were they hurrying to share their good news with friends and family?
Did they just expect Jesus to heal; After all, that's what he does? Did they take Jesus' kindness for granted? Jesus' question highlights their poor manners: "Where are the nine?"
May I ask another question, one that may be far more relevant to you? Would you have been the one, or would you be numbered among the nine?
Paul shares his secret to better psychological health with the Christians in Thessalonica: "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Help yourself by being the odd man out; don't be numbered among the nine
Mark Wilmoth
Pinehurst Christian Church, Marietta
Minister@PinehurstChristianChurch.org