Do yourself a huge favor! Relax!

6th February 2012   ·   0 Comments

By Fr. Jerome LeDoux
Contributing Columnist

Painful shingles is a reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus, a type of herpes virus that causes chickenpox. Following chickenpox, the virus lies inactive in the nerve roots until the age 50, surgery, strong medicine, radiation, serious illness, poor nutrition, stress and a weakened immune system, indicating that it is in our power to control much of this.

That sounds like “the second verse is the same as the first” in the case of diseases like fibromyalgia, some migraine headaches, virtually all regular headaches, some cases of sinusitis and congestion, tics and nervous twitches, digestive problems, cardiac disease, anxiety, fatigue and a litany of illnesses let in by a weakened immune system.

Our immune system is a complex group of cells and organs that defend the body against disease and infection. Under stress, these cells and organs release hormones that trigger the production of disease-fighting white blood cells and other disease-fighting elements. This hormone is essential for the immune system to respond quickly to injuries and acute illnesses. However, chronic hormone release can disable the immune system.

So, relax, folks! Don’t overprime your immune system by allowing negative stress to drive your cells incessantly to release hormones set on urging the nonstop production of disease-fighting cells. Too much of a good thing renders your immune system almost useless. This demonstrates convincingly why negative stress is Public Enemy No. 1.

Weirdly, many people out there seem dedicated to the proposition that it is their purpose in life to destroy whatever relaxation and peace you may have. Their every thought, word and action appear to be aimed at stealing your joy, peace and ease. Shun their company whenever feasible and pray for them, especially if they are family.

Even where evil people with bad intent or good people with lazy or distorted good intentions are not around to torment us, foul economic or equally foul environmental circumstances may conspire against our peace of mind, if we allow them to affect us.

Virtually all athletes say it the same way. When you have great intensity, great enthusiasm and simultaneously can relax and have fun, you are going to give one whale of a performance. Yet, there is a fine line between nervousness and sharpness as a tool to achieve peak performance. The two conditions sometimes feed off one another.

Master batsman Ted Williams always said, “When I get to the plate, I like to have just a bit of nervousness. It gives me a fine edge as I set myself to see and hit the ball.”

Our memory is stress-sensitive. When you are laboring to remember a name, number or almost anything, relax, do something else, go about your business, and your memory will work subconsciously, sans pressure, and will most likely come up with it.

Particularly, students who cram for a test need to be mindful of this fateful fact of life, that our memory does not like to be strained or stretched. The practical meaning of this characteristic of memory is that, rather than cram and be miserable and inefficient, we should study diligently every day, and when a test comes we can afford to relax.

Insomniacs must pay attention to the blunt fact that, apart from painful physical injuries and worrisome illnesses such as sleep apnea, sleeplessness is generally brought on by runaway nerves caused by negative stress, while they in their turn cause more negative stress. This is one of the worst vicious cycles of life that must be interrupted.

Come nightfall, slowing down a busy, ever-speeding mind is the biggest challenge to many insomniacs. Somehow, they must learn to turn that switch off at night or at whatever time they can likely find favorable circumstances and conditions for sleeping.

On the other hand, it may be the sleepy person’s refusal to turn loose worrisome things or people. Sure, letting go can be more than a notion, but it may be your only way to relax and gentle your nerves, thus making healing sleep a possibility in your life. So, turn it loose, folks, and let it rip which­ever way it has a notion to move or stop!

This kind of letting go is a vital tenet of Alcoholics Anonymous groups who know from bitter experience that holding on to their problem is a certain recipe for failure and continued addiction. “Let go; let God!” is their cry and prayer every day, every hour.

Sadly, it is sometimes asking too much to tell the brokenhearted and the lonely to relax, for, by the nature of their affliction, they are a bundle of nerves hurting beyond all measure. Yet, there is healing for us all if we can just relax. Let go; let God!

This article was originally published in the February 6, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper