A healthy body starts with a healthy mind. Our mind is involved in everything we do. Several years ago the Lord brought me to a passage in scripture that really awakened me to the power of the mind.  

Proverbs 17:22 a happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

What struck me in this passage was the statement “dries up the bones”. The bones are where our immune system is made. So this scripture is implying a broken spirit can affect our immune system. A broken spirit is a person who is under stress, a person who is weighed down with anxiety and fear.  A broken spirit can also be someone who is full of envy, jealousy, and anger.

Proverbs 14:30    A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are life and health of the body but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones.

Multiple medical studies have confirmed that approximately 75-95% of our illnesses are stress related. Every thought we have releases chemicals that affect us physically either in a positive or negative way. The stress reaction starts in the brain. In a perceived threat the sympathetic nervous system releases chemicals into the brain and the body causing our heart rate to go up,  increasing muscle tension, increasing breathing, increasing metabolism, slowing digestion, dilating pupils, and increasing blood pressure. Cortisol is release in response to stress and prolonged over secretion leads to destruction of the immune system. High levels of cortisol increase inflammation and suppress the immune system affecting our ability to fight off illness. High levels of cortisol have been linked to diseases like AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, Diabetes, Cancer, Coronary Artery Disease, Obesity, Alzheimer and Parkinson Disease.

It has been come very clear to me that our thought life is very important to our health. Over the next few days I will discuss more on our thoughts and living the abundant life.