The Effects of Negative Emotions on Your Health - And How to Make a Change!
There’s an old adage that says “we are our own biggest critics”. We often judge ourselves a little too harshly in the mirror, say we didn’t do “well enough” on a project, or tell ourselves that we’re hard to love. This little voice in our head can be helpful sometimes — like motivating us to stop procrastinating or to improve on a weakness. But negative self-talk, that derisive inner dialogue we have, and other negative emotions aren’t typically doing us any favors. In fact they are usually holding us back from reaching our true potential.
What are the Effects of Negative Emotions?
While it’s fairly easy to agree that negative emotions cause us to perceive problems where none exist, the real question is; does being negative affect your health?
And the answer? Yes, it can.
Excessive negativity can take many forms, but all of them can impact the relationship between your mind and body. When it’s not controlled, negativity can cause extreme amounts of stress and low self-esteem. Additionally, there’s scientific evidence that negative self-talk goes beyond psychological factors; it actually physically affects the brain and be detrimental to your health in a number of ways.
How Negative Thoughts Affect Health
Your feelings and general attitude about life can influence your overall mental health and emotional wellness. Negativity breeds more negativity, and a some point your physical body will start to respond to negativity with any number of symptoms. A few of the issues that can arise from an abundance of negativity include:
Stress
Increased illness
Decreased lifespan
High blood pressure
Heart disease
Digestive issues
According to the University of Minnesota Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing, negative attitudes can lead to chronic stress, which can be detrimental to your immune system and hormonal balance. Over time chronic stress can even shorten your lifespan.
In the short term, negative emotions trigger the amygdala in our brains, which sends out our “flight or fight” stress response. When the nervous system mechanisms don’t respond properly, the body can be predisposed to illnesses, making you more prone to becoming sick. Author Lissa Rankin, MD, goes in depth about this topic in her book, Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself.
A 2014 study published in the Journal of Neurology found a link between cynicism later in life (things like distrust in people and their motives) and higher levels of dementia. Another similar study in 2009 linked cynical thoughts to higher levels of heart disease in women, increasing their chances of dying earlier.
Harvard health publishing also points out the close connection between our brains and our digestive systems, noting that anxiety can affect the GI tract and exacerbate inflammation.
Additionally, people with higher levels of negative self-talk might be more prone to drinking or smoking and both vices have their own physical repercussions of course. But being drawn to addictive substances may be an indirect effect of negative emotions.
It all makes sense — when negativity increases stress and anxiety both of which can wreak havoc on your body, even if you don’t immediately see it.
“In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.”
-Dalai Lama
How to Stop Negative Thoughts (Or At least Reduce Them For the Sake of Your Health)
The good news is there are techniques for minimizing negative self-talk and managing the sadness it causes by changing your everyday patterns of behavior. Additionally, talking to a professional like a psychologist or psychiatrist can also greatly decrease these negative thoughts.
In fact if you find yourself feeling stress, anxiety depression or feel like you are engaging in negative self-talk frequently, it is highly recommended that you seek the advice of a counselor to get to the root of your issues and develop coping mechanisms and a long-term plan.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for things to try at home, here are a few different strategies:
Catch yourself when you’re being too critical. When you find yourself having a negative thought, make a note of it. You can mentally take note, or physically write it down — by writing it down, you can notice trends. Are your negative thoughts mainly about body image? About work? Family? This can further help you pinpoint the root of your negative thoughts. If there are things that need worked on in your life — your job, your health, or something else — you can use this tool to help you put a plan in action.
Change your thoughts from negative to neutral. When you start to be overly critical of yourself, try making slight changes to make your self-talk more neutral. Instead of saying “I hate,” replace with “I don’t like” or “I could improve upon.” Little changes like this can help put you on the path toward thinking more positively. For example, instead of saying “I hate that I’m always running late” to “I could improve on being more on time, and I can do that by…” This will make your thought process more proactive.
Challenge yourself to say 5 positive things a day. Whether this is writing something positive about yourself on a note and taping it to your mirror, or setting an alarm to give yourself a compliment in the middle of the day, there are numerous ways to incorporate positive talk in your life. You only have to find one that works for you. Compliment yourself on the meal you cooked, or how you look today — making this a conscious part of your daily routine is an absolute game changer.
Shift your perspective. When you’re upset about something, think about if this will affect you in 1, 5, or 10 years — this is especially helpful for putting things into perspective.
Say the thought out loud. Have you ever thought something and said it only to realize how ridiculous it sounds? Same thing happens with negative thinking! Say what you’re thinking to yourself out loud — you’ll be surprised by how often you realize find that something doesn’t sound nearly as bad as it did in your head.Talk to yourself like you talk to a friend. Have you ever started complaining about yourself to someone only to have them say “don’t talk about my friend that way”?. Well they’re right, and in that sense you can become your own best friend.
When you’re telling yourself you don’t look good, or that you aren’t a hard worker, etc., think about what you would say to a friend if they said the same thing to you. You’d support them, right?! So why are you talking to yourself any differently? This is a fantastic way to shift your perspective on negative thoughts and to shift your thought process altogether.
It’s entirely human to feel sadness, and it’s incredibly easy to focus on what’s wrong in any given day or situation. It is much harder to cultivate positivity and actively manage your mood and emotions. But it is possible! And negativity, in excess, can bring us down often for no reason. It can also damage our bodies and make us sick over time.
But if your negative self-talk is more than just a bad habit or the result of going through a tough time, you are not alone. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America “nearly 40 million people in the United States (18%) experience an anxiety disorder in any given year.” If you are feeling overwhelmed and need someone to talk you can reach out to the Crisis Text Hotline to connect with a trained crisis counselor.
And for what it’s worth, we think you’re great, so please be kind to yourself.