Our Thoughts Affect Our Immune System

Dr. Michael Jacobson cited a study in which patients were asked to recall various types of emotional experiences while doctors monitored how it affected their bodies. Each patient was asked to relive the experience in their minds for five minutes.

 

When the patients thought for five minutes about experiences that made them depressed, they found out that it affected the patients’ immune system and their antibody levels dropped 55%.  Six hours later, their immune system was still depressed.

 

But when the patients thought for five minutes about situations that made them happy, their antibody levels rose 40% and it was still elevated six hours later.  (“Stress and the Heart” Dr. Michael Jacobson, October 1996). This is medical evidence that the thoughts we think affects our bodies, either positively or negatively.