Emotional wellness is the ability to control stress and to
express emotions appropriately and comfortably. It is the ability to recognize
and accept feelings and not be defeated by setbacks and failures. Achieving
emotional wellness allows you to experience life’s ups and downs with
enthusiasm and grace and maintain satisfying relationship with others.
Many studies report on the connection between wellness and
emotional health. Anger, for example, is a powerful emotion that has
consistently been found to increase the risk of heart attacks. In a recent
study involving men who had both coronary heart disease and high scores for
anger and hostility, participants who participated in an eight-week anger
management course were less angry and their blood pressure dropped
significantly. The benefits were still apparent two months later. Participants
in the control group whose anger score remained the same experienced an increase
in blood pressure.
Many other health problems are rooted in emotional
stressors. Health conditions ranging from hives to cancer may have as their
origin a breakdown in the body’s immune system caused by the body’s response to
emotional stressors. The stressors, by disrupting the body’s delicate balance
of powerful hormones, may serve as the triggering mechanism for myriad health
problems. The growing acceptance of stress-coping techniques, is evidence of
the trend toward nonphysical strategies for preventing and treating many health
problems.
