attitude: your first line of defense
 

was chatting with someone at work today... and we got to talking about people's attitudes/personalities and their susceptability to illness.

We were talking about different people we know, and how they handle stress. Some people, like ourselves and some others we know, handle stress very well and don't let things get to us - it's very hard for anything to break our good moods. OThers we work with and know seem to take the full brunt of stress - you can see it in their body and energy - they just seem frayed and frazzled in the face of stress. Those people also seem to be sick, in bad moods, or get headaches FAR more often than those who deal with stress better.

We talked about reasons for that - tracing it back to body energy and relaxation. Better energy flow withing your body, from a relaxed and stress-coping attitude, seems to bring a life that is far, far less affected by minor illnesses like colds, flus, and headaches.

Just felt like putting those thoughts in words.

reply if you can see the same thing with people you know, or with any comments you'd like to put forward

I have seen that at work as well. I work in a nursing home, and the effect only intensifies as a life lengthens and one nears death. There is a lot of room for variability of suffering in the equation. My observations are that two people in similar situations can experience them very differently and thus effectively maximize or reduce the amount of suffering they experience. Control attempts, especially in our health care system, often do little except cause problems for all involved. Asking for help without demanding a specific outcome works best for people. In short, open minds suffer less. This goes for aides and nurses as well as residents. I can't tell you how many great workers I have seen burn out trying to force our limited system into their ideals of what good care is. Sadly we often have to accept that the most we can do is still less than we think it "should" be. But we can't just cave in to the situation either..I believe the "middle path", striking a balance, is the best we can do. The ego hates that, but ego is overrated anyway!

There's a lot of connection between the mind and body. When you think about it, this seems so common-sense that it's hard to believe many people don't believe it. There are a lot of studies out that show that stress lowers immune function - some of the mechanisms have to do with cortisol, a stress hormone that lowers immune function. Others have to do with dopamine and serotonin, or various inflammatory agents. Some of the illnesses are psychosomatic - not to say that they're not real, just that they're triggered more by psychological than biological mechanisms. Think about it - stress is basically a fight-or-flight reaction to a (usually) non-life-threatening event. So you're keeping yourself constantly in a state of arousal that was meant only for life-and-death situations. Can't be good for you.

Most headaches are stress induced, because the shoulders and neck muscles are tense during periods of high stress. In effect, the easiest cure to most headaches is simple relax! (if its not stress then you have brain problems, see a doctor~)

Jeff Keller "Attitude is Everyting"
This is a great book on attitude and insight on how to give yourself an attitued adjustment. It's always easy when you are not in a stressful event to say, "yeah, I've got a good attitude" but I know for myself... when the idiot in front of me breaks hard for no reason or forgets to signal.... my attitude is not what it should be.....

thanks a bunch for such knowledgeable replies!! I appreciate the physiological look at stress Lurkette - I can continue my slacking off at work and keep this conversation going with co-workers ;)