Can Superstition Affect Your Health?

[Joz]

I don't know about physical health.
My grandmother was VERY superstitious & apparently for a brief time, I was petrified by the things she told me. I don't remember what they were, I just remember being terrified. Death was high on the list.

 

[Nienna]

I think probably so. Anxiety & stress, we know, can have terrible effects on the heart. Irrational fears (leading to anxiety & stress), in the form of superstitions, could probably affect one's health. Depending on how seriously one takes them.

 

[Joz]

I think probably so...... Depending on how seriously one takes them.

We see superstitions all the time.

Spitting on the ball bat. Or wiping the soles of the shoes for good luck.
New clothes on Easter.
Something old, something new.......
My grandmother believed that death came in three's
And I was married with the hands on the clock going up.

 

[Nienna]

I used to step over cracks in the sidewalk. I don't think it affected my health, because I didn't really take it seriously. But if someone DOES, if he really believe he will break his mother's back by stepping on that crack, or any others consequences of not following a superstition, it could cause enough anxiety to affect his health.

 

[PsuedoGhost]

The power of the mind (where superstitions lie) is fairly well documented. The placebo effect for example demonstrates that in some cases the perceived notion of what is happening can be powerful enough to effect bodily change. I think its more of a, "I think something good will happen" therefore it impacts your body positively...

 

[1549]

In addition to the placebo effect, there is also 'voodoo death'. In that case someone's superstition leads to physical death. The death is not a direct result of a curse, it is the result of the victim believing in the curse. A person who actually believes they have been cursed with death will discontinue normal living habits until their body dies from lack of nourishment.

Psychology classes are fun...so much strange information

 

[Semper Fi]

Superstitions can also lead to obsessive compulsive disorder, like being obsessed with not stepping on cracks. That isnt healthy and leads to destructive lifestyles.

 

[deaddude]

Phsycho-somatic illnesses and disabilities have been thoroughly documented, so I would say yes, superstitions can effect ones pysical health.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Phsycho-somatic illnesses and disabilities have been thoroughly documented, so I would say yes, superstitions can effect ones pysical health.

So faith may also have real tangilbe benefits? Hope is therapeutic? Believing god loves you can be verifiably positive in your life?

 

[Joz]

The mind is a VERY powerful thing. I've seen it do both good and bad. The thing is, the mind never forgets. That is why we need to be careful what is placed before ourselves as well as our children. Somewhere everything you've ever seen/experienced, is stored.

 

[Mr.Conley]

I don't know, but superstition says that if I have the last post in every single forum on the board, then I will no longer be bored.

 

[deaddude]

So faith may also have real tangilbe benefits? Hope is therapeutic? Believing god loves you can be verifiably positive in your life?

Absolutely, never said it didn't.