by Conscious Reminder
Why do we complain? Well, to not torture other people with our negativity, of course. When people indulge in a bit of a moan, the principal idea would be to “vent.” In fact, by getting their emotions out, they reason, and they are going to feel better.
However, according to the suggestions of science, there are several serious flaws when it comes to reasoning. First of all, expressing negativity will not only make people feel better, but it is also catching, and it makes listeners feel even worse. People will not break wind in an elevator more than they are supposed to.
In fact, venting anger may be quite similar to the emotional farting happening in some closed areas. Although it actually sounds like an excellent idea, it is dead wrong too.
Complaining is really bad for our mood, and even for our colleagues and friends’ mood; however, that isn’t all that is wrong when it comes to frequent negativity too. Apparently, it will also be bad for our brain and our health.
Although it isn’t an exaggeration if we say that such complaining will lead to brain damaging, it does not stop there. When we complain, our body will release cortisol, our stress hormone.
Cortisol will shift us into the fight-or-flight mode, directing blood, energy, and oxygen away from every single thing but those systems which are important for immediate survival.
For instance, one of the effects of cortisol is to actually raise our blood sugar and blood pressure, so that we are going to be ready to escape or also to defend ourselves.
All that extra cortisol which is released by constantly complaining will impair our immunity and make us more vulnerable to diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, and heart disease. It will even make our brain quite open to strokes.
What is the solution in order to stop complaining?
In fact, there exist two main things we may do when we feel the necessity to complain about. The first one is cultivating the attitude of gratitude.
This means that when we feel that we want to complain, we should shift our attention to things we are grateful for. Contemplating what we are grateful for is not simply the appropriate thing we should do; it will reduce cortisol by about 23%.
According to a research that the California University conducted, those people who are working daily in order to cultivate the attitude of gratitude had improved energy and mood, and less anxiety as well, because of the lower levels of cortisol.
So, every time when we experience pessimistic or negative thoughts, we should use this as the cue to shift gears, in order to start thinking about positive things. With time, positive attitudes are going to become our ways of life.
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