Guest guest Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Jai Maa! There's some interesting stuff on the mind-body connection in the current Newsweek, available online at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6038621/site/newsweek/ I like to mention scientific studies on prayer and spiritual qualities like forgiveness when I'm talking to logic-based people (like most of my family). I find these kinds of articles very helpful when I'm trying to explain just exactly why spirituality is so important to me. Here's one quote that I found very touching: "Simply looking at the picture of someone you love can help dampen stress responses," says Smith at the University of Utah. In a study this month, he reported that thinking about supportive friends for a few minutes before a stressful test helped participants minimize increases in heart rate and blood pressure. Cardiologist Harvey Zarren, medical director of the Healing Your Heart program at Union Hospital in Lynn, Mass., used to apply a simple version of this technique when he rode in the ambulance with heart patients. He would ask the patient to discuss the thing in life he or she loved most. As if by magic, high blood pressure fell and abnormal heart rhythms diminished. Unlike colleagues, says Zarren, "I never had a cardiac arrest in the ambulance." Apparently, love has "magical" healing effects! Spiritually-minded people may know this already, but it's nice to see that those in the health professions are starting to study this. Jai Maa! Ekta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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