Stress, Heart Disease, Community, and Friendship

Be at rest once more, O my soul,

for the Lord has been good to you. 

Ps. 116: 7

On this Monday morning, I just do not feel like coming up with something new!  I hope to post a new addition tomorrow.  The following is a post from June.  It does contain themes I have mentioned in the past couple of weeks as I have looked at Balance in life and our need for community.  I hope you enjoy it, and it provides good food for thought as we start a new week.

I have been reading an interesting book on the consequences of stress on the human body.  In particular, the author was commenting on the relationship between bad stress, which raised various "flight or fight" hormones in the body, and heart disease.  He argued that feeling trapped in a job or a situation where you feel powerless leads to increased stress chemicals in the body, which eventually lead to heart disease, strokes, and other major problems (such as death).   To me, all of this makes sense.  The question is how do we avoid such stress?

To begin, we should make some obvious life-style changes.  If you are in a job that makes you feel trapped and not respected, change.  Also, increase your exercise levels as this makes a major positive change in the body's response to stress.  He also recommended the drinking of wine with dinner, as moderate alcohol consumption has been shown to lower the stress chemicals in the body.  If you have listen to the news, all of these positive factors have been mentioned for quite some time even in popular media.  These are changes that we can and should make!

What I found interesting was his emphasis on developing good social networks and friends.  He observed several groups of people with what we would call horrible eating habits who have very low levels of heart disease.  He argued that these people have one thing in common: they are well integrated into a community where they have love, support, and fun.  

In the past thirty years, studies have shown that Americans increasingly are not integrated into authentic communities.  We isolate ourselves with our families from others.  I believe we do so to our own harm!  The problem is that friendship and community take time to develop and nurture.  With all the kid's activities, work responsibilities, and general busyness of life, how do we find the time to develop and nurture friendships?

First, we have to admit and confess that we need real friends and community.  We need to ask God to help us find real friends and true community.  Most of us do everything we can to live in denial of our need for others.  We remain so busy, and we allow our children to be part of every activity under the sun so they are not deprived.  Even at church, we go and leave without really engaging people.  This is one great draw of the large church in that it facilitates the feel of many friends and fellow travelers without making any of them engage.  It is also the draw of Facebook and other social networks that promote "connectedness" without really helping us connect.  We need real friends!

Second, we have to be intentional in searching for friendships and community.  We have to find people that we can "be ourselves" around.  Wow is this hard!  Where would we find such people?  How about in our church communities?  This presupposes that we will develop church communities that are not fake or shallow.  Places where it is O.K. to be known with all of our issues, needs, and strengths.  We will find people in these churches that we do not "click with," but we should continue to search until we find folks who will love us and relate to us where we are.  Again, ask God for wisdom in finding friends and companionship!

Third, we have to continue to develop and nurture friendships and community.  This takes commitment on our part and on our friends part.  Get together and laugh.  Enjoy time together not necessarily "doing stuff" but being.  I think this is becoming a lost art.  True friendship and community is found in spending time.  In today's age, time is our most precious commodity.  We horde it to our own detriment.  Spend time with friends and lower your chances of heart disease!

With that in mind, I am thankful after a busy Sunday for several hours with friends sitting around a bonfire, talking, laughing, and swatting bugs.  On this Monday, I ask that the Lord help my soul to be at rest once more!  God is truly good to me.  May each of us take time to reflect so we can say the same thing!