Negative Feelings can have a physical impact by damaging your metabolism, immune system or organs. Persistent bitterness may result in global feelings of anger and hostility that, when strong enough, could affect a person’s physical health. Harbouring grudges and feeling bitter will not only affect your mood, it can make you physically ill too.
Philipa Gammell, Head of Wellbeing at Lomax Bespoke Fitness & Wellbeing told The Huffington Post Lifestyle: “These studies that suggest our bitter and grumpy feelings can have a physical manifestation is something that energetic medicine has known for a long time.
Gammell reveals her top suggestions for combatting an attack of negativity… Here are 7 natural mood boosters:
Take time out: Take a few moments for yourself, away from your desk to breathe. A great little exercise is to close your eyes and firstly ask yourself how you are feeling both physically and emotionally. Really take your mind into your physical body becoming aware of all the sensations, then once you have done this ask yourself how you feel, describing your emotions in a few words. Then bring your attention to your breath, register where exactly you feel it in your body; in your nose, throat, chest or stomach, and keep this focus for about 4 breaths. The final stage is to open up your awareness again and hear all the noise around you, ask how your body and mind feel and ‘come back’.
Walk upright: Get outside for a brisk walk. Walk for at least 20 minutes a day in order to increase your cardio levels which feed your body with more oxygen, wakening up the mind and the body
Laugh! Being grumpy and despondent can have a direct adverse effect on your health. Smiling and laughing whenever you can, increases the intake of oxygen which in turn reduces the release of stress hormone cortisol, which is what inhibits and decreases the overall effectiveness of our immune system.
Massage: Massage boosts your endorphins, but it also deals with that fact the body is the graveyard of your emotions. Using the concept that the body is entirely integrated, it is essential to address the body alongside the mind to achieve overall healing and greater wellbeing.
Mindful living; living in the moment: When you are truly in the moment the past and the future cease to exist – they are fiction, they are a figment of our imagination. You are no longer the constant chatter in our head, you are no longer the judgments that scream through our consciousness hundreds and thousands times a day. You are in this moment looking at life without judging, only accepting everything as it is. The more you do this the better you will slowly become at properly listening to ourselves and our bodies’ needs.
Eat ‘feel good’ foods: Eat more foods rich in eltryptophan (the amino acid precurser to serotonin) such as eggs, poultry, flaxseed, and nuts. Foods rich in omega 3, such as mackerel, sardines, salmon, trout, tuna and flaxseed have also been proven