Researchers have found a link between people who are likely to forgive themselves and the damage caused to the body by stress, saying those willing to “cut themselves some slack” may actually live longer than those who don’t.
The Daily Mail is reporting on a study conducted by researchers at Brandeis University which found a link between a self-forgiving attitude and lower levels of stress-induced inflammation. This is the kind of inflammation that can lead to cardio-vascular disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s.
“How we deal with stress has a major effect on our lifespan – and researchers say learning to deal with it more effectively could even increase how long we live,” the Mail reports.
The self-forgiving person is someone who is more willing to move on after an argument rather than dwelling on it, or who doesn’t take the blame for stress that is beyond their control.
The paper, which was published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity was authored by psychology professor Nicolas Rohleder along with several with postdoctoral fellows and graduate students.
Rohleder and his team asked 41 participants to rank their levels of self-compassion by agreeing or disagreeing with a series of statements such as “I try to be understanding and patient toward aspects of my personality I do not like” or “I’m disapproving and judgmental about my own flaws and inadequacies.”
Participants then took one stress test a day for two days where their levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), an inflammatory agent linked to stress were recorded before and after each test.
After the first test, participants with a higher degree of self-compassion had significantly lower levels of IL-6. After the second test, however, researchers found that those who had less self-compassion actually had higher levels of IL-6 before the test, suggesting that they may have been carrying the stress they experienced the day before.
“The high responses of IL-6 on the first day and the higher baseline levels on the second day suggest that people with low self-compassion are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of this kind of stress,” Rohleder said.
“The research illustrates how easy it is for stress to build over time and how a seemingly small daily stressor, such as traffic, can impact a person’s health if they don’t have the right strategies to deal with it,” the Mail reports.
Rohleder says he is hoping the research can provide more effective ways to cope with stress and reduce disease, “not only by relieving negative emotions but by fostering positive ideas of self compassion.”
Research has shown that forgiveness in general has a healing affect on the body. More than 1200 studies to date show that people who have the ability to forgive tend to have less stress and better relationships in life, and also experience a lower incidence of serious illnesses such as depression, heart disease, stroke and cancer.
Why does forgiveness make such a difference?
“Because not forgiving—nursing a grudge—is so caustic,” says Fred Luskin, PhD, a health psychologist at Stanford University and author of Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness. “It raises your blood pressure, depletes immune function, makes you more depressed and causes enormous physical stress to the whole body.”
Jesus’ admonition to forgive “not seven times but seventy-seven times” (Matt 18:22) are truly words to live by!
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