Chapter 3 Chapter 1 Anxiety, the Destroyer of a Happy Life

We can use our hands to take care of the annoying daily tasks without letting them affect the liver, lungs, and blood.Worry can easily lead to three diseases: ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart disease. One night long ago, a neighbor rang the doorbell to urge our family to be vaccinated against smallpox.He is one of thousands of volunteer workers in New York City.People lined up in horror, waiting for the injection.Vaccination stations are located not only in all hospitals, but also in fire brigades, police stations and large factories.More than 2,000 doctors and nurses are busy day and night to vaccinate everyone.How did this commotion come about?It turned out that eight people in New York City had smallpox, and two of them died.

I've lived in New York for 37 years, and yet no one has ever ring my doorbell to warn me about anxiety attacks.In the past 37 years, this disease has been ten thousand times more lethal than smallpox.I have never been told that one in ten people currently living in this world will have a nervous breakdown, mainly due to worry and emotional distress.So I'm writing this chapter now to ring your doorbell and warn you. Dr. Carell, the Nobel Prize winner in medicine, once said: "People who don't know how to fight anxiety often die young." In fact, this sentence is applicable to anyone.

A few years ago, I drove through Texas and New Mexico on vacation with Dr. Gerber, then the director of medicine for the Santa Fe Railroad.We talked about the effect of worry on people together, and he said: "If the patient can remove the fear and worry, 70% of the people don't need to see the doctor. I'm not saying that their illness is imaginary," he continued. , "Their ailments are as real as toothaches, if not a thousand times worse. I mean peptic ailments, stomach ulcers, irregular heartbeats, insomnia, headaches, and even some kind of paralysis." "The ailments are absolutely real and I'm saying them with a basis because I've suffered from stomach ulcers myself for 12 years."

"Fear makes people worry, and worry makes people nervous, which affects people's stomach nerves, disturbs the secretion of gastric juice, and causes gastric ulcers." Dr. Joseph Montag, author of Nervous Stomach Trouble, said the same thing.He said: "The food you eat doesn't cause stomach ulcers, it's the things that torment you that cause stomach ulcers." Dr. Alvarez of the Mayor Clinic once said, "Ulcers rise and fall with emotional stress." He came to this conclusion after studying the records of 15,000 gastric patients at the Mayor Clinic.Among them, the cause of 4/5 patients with stomach problems is not physiological factors, on the contrary, spiritual fear, worry, hatred, extreme selfishness and inability to adapt to real life are the main causes of stomach problems.According to "Life" magazine, gastric ulcers are now the tenth leading cause of human death.

I recently corresponded with Dr. Haro Seaside of the Mayor Clinic, and learned that he presented a paper at the annual meeting of the National Association of Physicians in Industry in which he stated that he studied 176 business executives with an average age of 44.3 years. 1/3 of the people are troubled by the three major diseases of heart disease, peptic ulcer and high blood pressure due to excessive stress in life.Think about it, 1/3 of business executives suffer from these diseases before the age of 45!How expensive is success! Heart disease is the number one killer in America today.During World War II, more than 300,000 people died on the battlefield, while 2 million civilians died of heart disease during the same period-1 million of them were caused by worry and excessive stress in life.The aforementioned Dr. Carell said that "those who cannot fight against worry die young", and heart disease is the main reason.

The famous French philosopher Montaigne once said to the citizens when he was elected mayor of his hometown: "I am willing to use my hands to handle municipal affairs, but I don't want to damage my body for the sake of municipal affairs." Worry can get you rheumatism, arthritis, and drive you to a wheelchair.Dr. Russell Sigil of Cornell University School of Medicine is a world-renowned authority on arthritis treatment. He listed four conditions that are most prone to arthritis: (1) Marriage breakdown. (2) Financial crisis. (3) Loneliness and anxiety. (4) The grievances persist.

Of course, these four emotional states are not the entire list of causes of arthritis, and different causes cause different types of arthritis, but these four are the most common causes.For example, a friend of mine was devastated during the recession when the gas company stopped supplying him with gas and the bank closed its mortgage early.His wife suffered from arthritis, and the onset was sudden, and various treatments were still ineffective. Her illness was not recovered until his family's financial situation improved. Worry can also cause tooth decay.Dr. William McGonagall mentioned in a speech by the National Dental Association: "Unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and fear may affect people's calcium balance and make teeth susceptible to decay." The doctor talked about one of his patients. This patient originally had a healthy tooth, but in the three weeks after his wife was hospitalized for a sudden illness, he had 9 cavities because of worrying about his wife's illness. caused by worry.

Not long ago, I accompanied a thyroid patient friend to Philadelphia to find a well-known specialist who has 38 years of medical experience in this area.In his waiting room, on the wall hangs a large wooden sign with his advice to patients.I copied those pieces of advice on the back of an envelope while I waited: relax and play The things that keep you most relaxed and happy are healthy beliefs, sleep, music, and laughter. - Believe in God -Learn healthy sleep ——Like beautiful music - look at life optimistically Health and joy will be yours. The first question he asked my friend was "Are you emotionally troubled?" diabetes.The famous doctor said: "All these diseases are related to each other. They are all born of worry, just like relatives."