Epigenetics Confirms the Impact Your Mind Has on Your Physical Health
What are the main factors that determine your sense of physical well-being?
The dinner you had last night, the number of workouts you squeezed in this week, the air quality in your town, your genes? Could it also be that your most consistent thoughts and emotions have just as much impact on your health as the external factors mentioned above?
Many of us grow up with the disempowering belief that our health is largely determined by our heredity. As a result, we don’t think we have much control over whether certain diseases or illnesses will affect us later in life. We are aware that certain choices can decrease the likelihood of adverse health conditions. But we are rarely aware that we have one more powerful tool in our toolbelt for maximum health.
THE GENIE BEYOND YOUR GENES
The field of epigenetics (literally meaning “beyond/above” the gene) studies how chemical reactions alter the expression of our genes.
The main finding of epigenetics is that our health is determined not only by our genetics and external environment but also our internal environment.
Our internal environment consists of our thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions about life. All of these have a measurable effect on the health of our cells.
The human genome is estimated to have between 20,000–25,000 genes. Genes are the building block of proteins, which are the building block of our cells. Even though our genes were passed down to us by our ancestors, the effect they have on our health is not fixed. The expression of one particular gene can vary enormously. A gene that is active can be deactivated and deactivated genes can become active.
YOUR EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT IS ONLY HALF OF THE EQUATION
We think of our body as the sum-total of the trillions of cells that are in it. The behavior of our cells depends on the expression of genes and proteins. The expression of proteins is determined by the environment.
Scientific findings are revealing the importance of our internal environment on the expression of our genes for decades. Our thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions do not come from within our cells and genes. While the scientific community has not yet been able to pinpoint the exact physical source of these, there is no doubt that we all have them. Are you thinking right now? Are your thoughts not real simply because you aren’t aware of how they are arising?
Since thoughts do not arise from within our cells, one could say that they are an external environment to them.
THE DANCE OF ELECTRONS AND CELLS
In my opinion, the electromagnetic charge of our thoughts and emotions affects the electrons that participate in the cellular respiration process. The cellular respiration process carries energy to all living systems. The “invisible” energy from our thoughts and emotions gets translated into physical processes and chemicals at this level. The gatekeepers in our cell membranes decide which electrons to allow into the cell for further processing. The charge of the electrons that make it into the cell then affects the production of the protein within the cell.
TAKING OUR POWER BACK FROM OUR GENETIC CODING
If our internal environment affects our cells, that means we can change our health from the inside out. This is the placebo effect at work.
When we do not feel that we have power over our health, our original genetic coding is much more likely to play out. If one doesn’t believe that taking the steps to avoid a certain disease will matter anyway, one is much more likely to actually “inherit” the disease.
If we believe that we have power over our health, we will consciously choose thoughts that result in new decisions on the physical level. We alter our food choices because we believe that doing so can change the shape of our bodies. If we didn’t believe that, we wouldn’t make the decision to change our eating habits in the first place.
YOUR BELIEFS BUILD YOUR BODY
Often, the problem is that most people are not conscious of the fact that their feelings about themselves and the world affect the daily actions they take. If one truly values this precious life and the body they live in, they are much more likely to actively replace harmful habits with empowering habits.
Dr. Bruce Lipton offers a wonderful and more detailed explanation of how thoughts affect our cells in his book “Biology of Belief.”
“Less than 1% of disease is associated with genetics. Over 90% of disease is a total reflection of environment and especially our programming: the disempowering, self-sabotaging behaviors that we acquired in the first 7 years. Since those disempowering programs are based on our environment and our perception, and since we can change the environment and our perception, we have the power to free ourselves from disease and to start living that happily-ever-after honeymoon of life experiences that we all believe that we can have.” — Dr. Bruce Lipton
When we believe that we do not have control over our health, we indeed become victims to our heredity and our external environment. We are not yet used to using the power of our minds to control our internal environment and positively affect our health.
When we become conscious of the fact that we have the ability to control our health, we are treating any potential future issues at the level of the root cause rather than placing a band-aid over symptoms that arise.
Your thought, beliefs, and perceptions matter. The greatest tool you have to affect your health is the ability to direct your attention to thoughts that empower you to make healthy choices. Changing your mindset to a more empowering one by letting go of negative beliefs doesn't change your mental health - it changes your health at the genetic level!