Why do thinking patterns affect our health?
A healthy mind is a foundation for a healthy lifestyle. Patterns of lifestyle are chosen based on the decisions made by individuals throughout life—this in turn affects quality of life in a very important way.
The definition of public health is focused on the art of disease prevention by the application of scientific methodology. In layman's terms—your health, which may be affected by genetic and environmental factors, is more strongly affected by your lifestyle decisions. You as an individual have more power over your decisions than your physician. Your doctor can prescribe medications—however, you can decrease the need for these prescriptions through healthy lifestyle decisions made via healthy thinking.
Mental health is of paramount importance here—which again is affected by thinking patterns, which may be directly and indirectly affected by your associations, which include healthy and unhealthy social circles, social media, and activities that fuel both healthy and unhealthy outcomes. This, in most cases, gives the power to the individual to choose in most scenarios. There are extraneous factors that include abuse, baseline poor physical and mental health, and trauma that must be accounted for; however, in the absence of these outside factors, your faculty members have the ability to choose based on sound thinking patterns to create good outcomes. These translate into lifestyle decisions that cause better health outcomes. Good mental health contributes to happiness and outcomes and may play a pivotal role in longevity.
Personal and social responsibility, empathy, and perception towards others and the ability to keep peace through rational thinking patterns help in the prevention of upward and downward spirals in mood and well-being. This again is the outcome of discipline practiced in one's thinking patterns. It is important for all of us to take inventory of our thoughts. Not every thought is helpful to your well-being. Nurture thoughts that build you up and cast out thoughts that harm you. Toxicity exists all around the world and comes to us in the form of news daily. It is your choice to choose what you meditate on. Your daily meditation will affect your decisions, good and bad. As a wise person said, you cannot stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can certainly stop them from building a nest in your head.
