Emotions and Disease – Balancing Love and Fear for Your Health

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“If someone wishes for good health, one must first ask oneself if he is ready to do
away with the reasons for his illness. Only then is it possible to help him.” ~ Hippocrates

Emotions and disease are closely related, and as we age, we experience many of these emotional stressors. Mind and body medicine isn’t new, nor is the knowledge that emotions, good and bad, affect our health. The Emotional Pain Chart, or as I call it, the Emotions and Disease Chart, is pictured below. You can read about the emotions that are associated with the various painful problem areas throughout the body. Take a minute right now and think about how you feel, and ask yourself if your emotions are getting in the way of your daily habits or if you have pain in any of the areas shown below. If you do, and please be honest with yourself, think of how your emotion may be related to your pain.

Emotional Balance Pain Chart

Basic Emotions

Even though we experience an array of emotions, some holistic traditions view many emotional experiences as existing along a spectrum between love and fear. These emotions can trigger different responses throughout the body. Each of these emotions has varying degrees of intensity. You can like something or love something passionately, or you cannot be so fond of something and be downright scared to death of something else. Love and fear evoke different responses throughout our bodies due to the release of chemicals and/or hormones being released.

Emotions such as stress, which is one of the biggest culprits in the equation of how emotions affect our health, elicits a response similar to fear, which engages our nervous system to flee, fight, or freeze. Love on the other hand elicits a response from our nervous system to stay, enjoy, smile. Since our body functions as a whole, these two distinct emotions have very different consequences due to the chain of events that occur when they are experienced. Stress also impacts gut health, leading to inflammation, an imbalance in the microbiome, and digestive issues.

Our experiences (positive or negative) affect the release of certain chemicals and/or hormones throughout our body. Our emotions are made up of energy, and not only does it affect our body, but this emotional energy is also felt by our body. If you experienced something long ago, the perception or past beliefs actually weigh in on how we react to current situations and whether we respond with fear or with love to handle the situation. So remember, whether you are moving toward love or toward fear, your body will adapt and produce the chemicals and/or hormones it needs.

Stressful Events and Their Impact on Emotions and Disease

Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s, two psychiatrists, Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe, developed a Life Events chart and studied the impact certain life events had on our health. They discovered a correlation between stressful life events and individuals’ health. Below you will find their chart showing how certain life events can impact your health.

Risk Results for Emotions and Disease

Score of 300+: At risk of illness.
Score of 150-299: Risk of illness is moderate (reduced by 30% from the above risk).
Score <150: Only have a slight risk of illness.

There is actually a lot of scientific evidence that exists on how feelings or emotions and disease influence our bodies. Emotions on the negative or fear scale, often referred to as stress, actually damage our immune system and can, over time, decrease our lifespan. Chronic stress is caused by fear or negative emotions and has been proven to be a major culprit in inflammation, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Emotions on the positive or love scale trigger an overall healthier immune system, which leads to a speedier recovery from illnesses. Over time, these emotions do shape our perceptions, which drastically influence our health.

It would be nice to believe that we tend to choose the positive or love side; however, research shows us that it is more natural for the majority of people to think about the downside of things. People want to prepare and be ready just in case something happens. Doing this as a temporary review is tolerable for a brief time, but dwelling on that type of thinking is what leads to many of today’s chronic health problems. Instead, try to dwell on love, forgiving others – letting go of past negative perceptions, and being grateful for what we do have! Remember, it is your emotions or past perceptions that could be affecting your health. Remember, chronic stress and unresolved emotions can influence physical health and may contribute to inflammation and disease over time.

Emotional Balance Naturally

If you are one of those stuck on the fear side, there are many great tools to help you balance your emotions and disease to remain more loving than fearful. I have listed some of them below.

Aromatherapy and Bach Flower Remedies can assist in helping to balance or influence your emotions. We specialize in creating custom blends of both.

Deep Breathing and Meditation have been used since ancient times to manage stress and promote well-being. You may also want to check out our article on tapping using the Emotional Freedom Technique. This technique has been helpful for veterans dealing with PTSD.

Books like The Healing Code or Emotion Code can help you work through and release those stored emotions.

If you want to start managing your stress better, join our Managing Stress Workshop or our Nervous System Reset Program and start managing your emotions.