YOUR ATTITUDE AFFECTS YOUR HEALTH
When you are stressed or worried, your body secretes a powerful hormone called adrenaline. The effects of addrenalin in the human body can be compared to those of rocket fuel in a missile or nitric oxide in a race car. Adrenaline is short into your blood to give you an immediate boost of energy or Strength in response to fear, excitement or extreme emotion. In other words, it gives you an energy blast to get you going fast.
Once when I was jogging, I passed a fence yard that was the domain of two massive Doberman pinschers. I didn't see the dogs—“flesh-eating canines” would be a more accurate term—as I jogged past the yard. I guess they felt I was jogging too close to their boundary line, so out of nowhere, they charged me, with vicious, blood—curdling barking. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the two demonic figures fiercely bearing down on me. Adrenaline shot through my body like a bullet through soft cheese. At the time of the attack, it never occurred to me there was a protective fence separating their ugly teeth from my pristine body. So I jumped three feet straight into the air and darted off faster than I had run since high school.
Adrenaline is a powerful chemical designed to be burned up immediately by the body. If it is not expended, however, it can affect you adversely. Your body doesn't know whether it is being attacked from without or within. Likewise, a critical attitude puts your body on all points alert, and your internal system go on the defensive. If I carry around a critical attitude, for example, small doses of adrenaline drip into my blood-stream all day long. With the presence of adrenaline in our system, we get irritable, we may be cynical, we age faster, we hurt, and even with eight hours of sleep, we may still be tired when we awake.
Medical researchers tell us that stress and worry cause more internal damage than we realize. Physiologically, we are affected by fear, insecurity and unresolved bitterness. These things weaken our immune system, causing us to become susceptible to viruses and diseases our bodies would normally be capable of fending off.
A dear friend of mine was once the picture of health. He ate only the best foods, exercised and monitored his cholesterol levels vigilantly. But he had one major malady—worry. He worried about anything he could not completely control, until it ate him up inside. He had a tough time trusting God for his future, his finances and his family. As his anxiety grew, so did the physical effects. He constantly fell victim to stomach ailments. He appeared to be in his 60s even though he was 52. I also watched him go through a second divorce—the stress had cost him another loving relationship.
This dear friend recently passed away at an early age. Although he was a health nut, he succumbed to something much more devastating: a terrible perspective on life. His attitude had stolen his best years.
I have heard it said that the presence of adrenaline in your blood system can increase your cholesterol count by 40 percent. We willingly go on exotic diets and take pills to reduce our cholesterol levels, when what we really need is a better attitude toward life!
You could say that the state of your health is determined not so much by what you're eating but by what's eating you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DR. WAYNE CORDEIRO is senior pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, one of the nation's fastest—growing churches. He is also the president of New Hope International, a ministry dedicated to developing emerging leaders to plant twenty—first—century churches. The author of Doing Church as a Team, Wayne has planted churches in the Continental United States, Guam, Samoa, Japan, the Philippines and Europe. He travels extensively as a Speaker, recording artist and church consultant. Wayne and his wife, Anna, live in Hawaii with their children, Amy, Aaron and Abigail.
