Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The truth about fear - why you should fear fear itself


“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.”
The above is quoted from Marie Curie (1867-1934), a French physicist, twice winner of the Nobel prize.

Fear, as an emotion, has assisted mankind’s forefathers throughout the millennia with the fight-or-flight response. According to Howstuffworks (
http://health.howstuffworks.com/fear.htm) , fear is defined as:

Fear is a chain reaction in the
brain that starts with a stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals that cause a racing heart, fast breathing and energized muscles, among other things, also known as the fight-or-flight response.

Science has proven that emotions are essentially chemicals released in the brain; from a scientific point of view, we could probably synthesize medications to negate the release of fear in our brain thus ultimately ridding ourselves of fear as an emotion. However, that may lead to other unwanted results such as young children walking into a lion’s cage in the zoo due to the absence of fear or youths who end up stealing or robbing for being fearless.

Why should we fear nothing but fear itself? I would like to share some very interesting articles that I have read:
In August 2006, The Boston Globe newspaper featured an article with the title “Scared to Death”
(
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2006/08/06/scared_to_death/?page=1)

In October 2006, a doctor says that it is possible to suddenly die from intense fear or trauma. (
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/Story?id=2614635&page=1)

Recently in March 2008, German scientists have discovered that fear may freeze the blood in your veins thus increasing the risk of a heart attack (
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/uob-ftf032508.php#)

In fact, when you Google the phrase “scared to death” you would probably find more than 2 million results. All over the world, people are intrigued to discover whether it is possible to be scared to death.

Assuming that the 3 articles are inconclusive due to insufficient amount of research conducted, should we live a life in fear?

Assuming that the 3 articles have some truth in them, should we fear nothing but fear itself?

The interesting part is, the more fearful you are, and the more likely you are to contract diseases. The question is, do you want to be healthy or do you want to be stricken with diseases? Now that you know that by fearing nothing but fear itself can assist you in becoming more healthy, which one would you choose? Make an informed decision, not a ‘fearful’ (emotional) one.

No comments: