We spend a lot of time here at Dherbs discussing diet as the path to health. Our entire business, after all, was founded on this principal. What gets less attention here is the relationship our health has to stress. Simply put: stress is terrible for your health. It sets off inflammation in your body, which ages us in all a panoply of ways and causes all sorts of issues.
In light of this, scientists couldn’t help but wonder if the opposite was true: could patients be healthier if they had better control over their stress?
The answer, as Saratoga reports, was a resounding YES. A 17,000 person study has found that those who participated in a relaxation program saw a 42% reduction in how often they needed to visit a doctor. Over all, those who participated in the anti-stress program used the healthcare system about a quarter less than those who didn’t.
True, “going to the doctor” and “being healthy” are two different things. In fact, the study was really a look into how de-stress programs could reduce healthcare costs. But it’s not much of a stretch to see that proactively reducing your stress could keep you healthier, longer.
