Participants: James Marcum & Charles Mills
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP00043B
|
00:01 Welcome back to the program, I'm Charles Mills,
00:02 Dr. James Marcum here, cardiologist 00:04 We're talking about the biblical statement 00:07 that Solomon made, "As a man thinketh, so is he" 00:10 What is the connection between the mind and the body? 00:13 And Dr. Marcum has made it clear that it's very, very powerful 00:16 that we must not separate the two; 00:19 that's what we do in our mind and what we think in our mind... 00:21 ABSOLUTELY affects our body... 00:23 And I'm assuming, Dr. Marcum, visa versa; 00:25 if we're not healthy, our minds suffer. 00:27 Yeah, but it's hard when you give a person a prescription 00:30 like... Why don't you go out and serve your fellow man today... 00:34 Or why don't you go out and go outside... 00:36 Or why don't you do one of these other things... 00:38 They don't see that quite as a valuable prescription 00:41 as a pill I would give them to swallow. 00:43 We're going to give you some good pills to swallow here. 00:45 That's why we try to take evidence like these fellows 00:48 from Harvard came up with to prove these things. 00:51 The science is out there to prove that the Bible is true 00:54 over and over again. 00:56 And that's why it's very exciting here, 00:58 is treating someone's brain, 00:59 getting their brain to be more healthy and that will make 01:02 the rest of the body healthy. 01:04 I'm getting to the place where I think disease starts 01:07 in the brain! 01:09 Starts in the brain! 01:10 Okay, well here is a question from 01:13 heartwiseministries. org 01:14 We invite you listener and watcher to 01:16 send your questions in there. 01:18 "I had a heart attack... " this is the question... 01:20 "I had a heart attack 3 weeks ago; 01:22 I know I should quit smoking" 01:24 "Does too much stress trigger heart attacks?" 01:28 There's sort of a strange little, hidden message here... 01:31 "I know I should quit smoking" but let's talk about stress... 01:32 "Can smoking cause a heart attack?" 01:36 Is there a connection there? 01:37 Remember, we weren't designed to smoke cigarettes. 01:41 So smoking brings us a lot of toxins in our body. 01:44 It takes away... you know, carbon monoxide takes away 01:47 oxygen from the cells and makes our cells constrict; 01:50 makes us more prone to develop cancer, heart disease, strokes; 01:53 the list goes on and on. 01:55 So cigarettes are not good, that's a stressor. 01:59 And if you think about it, all stress that goes against 02:02 the way we were made, is going to increase the 02:05 chance of us developing health problems. 02:07 If stress constricts an artery, and that artery is 02:12 blocked somewhat with plaque, atherosclerosis, 02:15 is it possible to have a heart attack simply because 02:20 you're stressful with atherosclerosis in your artery? 02:24 Yes it is. It closes it off... Yes it is 02:26 Also, I had a lady not too long ago that was at a funeral, 02:31 and she was so upset, all the adrenalin, all the stress 02:35 from the funeral - they lost their loved one, 02:37 and that was so catastrophic that she had so much adrenalin 02:41 that the adrenalin caused her arteries to become completely 02:44 occluded and she had a heart attack. 02:47 When we studied those arteries, 02:48 those arteries had no plaque, no blockages at all. 02:52 And we call that "the broken heart syndrome" 02:55 So extreme amounts of stress can actually trigger 02:58 heart attacks. 02:59 You know, and it's scary and, of course, 03:02 anywhere in-between the stress depending on your genetics - 03:06 is going to affect anyone. 03:08 But needless to say, it is not good, so this gentleman 03:11 all the stressors of life including the cigarettes, 03:15 is going to increase his risk, not only having heart problems, 03:18 but other health problems. 03:20 Because, remember, the brain controls the whole body. 03:23 If you're not thinking good, you're not making good decisions 03:26 If you're stressed out, the blood pressure, 03:28 inflammation is going on in your body - NOTHING WORKS GOOD. 03:32 So, if you can see, this is many interworking parts... 03:36 so the heart attack is really not the problem. Right 03:39 It's what CAUSED the heart attack... 03:41 And what's going to cause the future one? 03:43 So when a person comes to me and they've had a heart attack, 03:45 sure we'll put in a stent. 03:47 We might even do a bypass surgery... 03:49 But I tell them... THAT doesn't fix the problem. 03:52 Let's see if we can get at the underlying causes 03:54 of stress, lower them and also teach you GOOD ways 03:58 to balance stress. 04:00 There are lots of good ways we can balance stress 04:02 that's been given to us by God. 04:04 God has taught us lots of ways; 04:06 we've talked about worship; 04:07 we've talked about doing the things we were designed to do 04:10 like serving, taking care of, not being scared, 04:13 and how about LAUGHING! Yes 04:15 There's nothing wrong with laughing! 04:17 Laughing, as-a-matter-of-fact, you've said that that actually 04:19 released endorphins. Yeah 04:21 There is nothing wrong with having a good time! 04:23 Having a vacation, doing these fun things. 04:26 You know, occasionally have a feast! 04:28 Doing things that make you happy! 04:30 God wants His people to be happy, Charles. 04:34 He wants them to live with lots of love. 04:36 He wants us... and all this is good for the chemistry. 04:39 I have a lot of people that come up to me when they 04:41 get older, Charles, and I say, 04:42 "Listen, I've never seen one 80-year-old that comes 04:45 to the hospital and says, "I wish I would have 04:48 worked more, Dr. Marcum. " 04:50 "I wish I worked more, I wish I made more money, 04:52 and I wish this... " 04:54 No, they said, "I wish I spent more time with my family, 04:56 my friends, my faith" 04:58 That's what they all say they want to do. 05:02 Our world is topsy-turvy! 05:05 We need to start getting back to the way we were 05:07 designed to be - the original model that lowers the 05:10 amount of stress, that deals with the real problems we have, 05:14 and to change our chemistry getting at the cause. 05:16 So this fellow, he's got lots of stress. 05:19 Stress starts in the brain, disease starts in the brain, 05:23 and we want to encourage him to do the best he can. 05:26 I would start with the cigarette stressor first. 05:29 Because if you can quit smoking cigarettes, 05:31 within a year, you can lower your risk of heart attack by 50% 05:34 ...just from stopping cigarettes. 05:36 But if you add all these little stresses up in our lives, 05:39 put them all together, it's no wonder we have so many 05:42 heart attacks every year. 05:44 All this health problem - it's just terrible, 05:46 and that's why we want to get people this news out there. 05:49 They can go to our website... 05:50 heartwiseministries. org 05:52 ...write us questions. 05:54 We have lots of different articles that people 05:56 can share with their friends. 05:57 We want other people to learn about these things 05:59 because when they do, guess what? 06:01 They realize there is an Ultimate Physician that is 06:04 loving them, that's taking care of them, 06:06 that they can make an appointment with, 06:08 that gives the best health recommendations ever! 06:11 All right! Okay, question #2... 06:13 "What are some methods other than Xanax to 06:16 lower my stress load?" 06:18 "Xanax did bring down my blood pressure" 06:20 So it was working, but I'm glad they're saying here... 06:23 Are there some other methods because you've always said 06:26 that drugs are temporary. 06:27 We should just take them for a while. 06:28 And I applaud that person... 06:30 Now some people do have mental health problems, 06:33 and have bad genetics and need medicines forever, 06:36 but some don't and this person recognizes that they're stressed 06:41 and they're on a medicine to deal with stress... 06:43 But if you can find out what the stressor is, 06:46 maybe you can deal with it. 06:47 It might be a job that you're unhappy with. 06:50 The stress might be not getting enough rest. 06:52 It might be stimulants that are causing stress. 06:55 It might be things in your past that have caused stress. 06:59 It might be fears in your life. 07:01 But should our GOAL be to remove the stress 07:05 or should our goal be to learn how to live with the stress, 07:09 to learn how to deal with the stress. Yeah 07:11 A combination, Charles, and that's a great question 07:13 because all the stress that we can remove, we want to remove it 07:17 For instance, if you and your family live in a place that has 07:20 lots of toxins and bad environments, 07:23 and you can get away from that stress... 07:24 You can move... Yeah but if you can't do it, 07:26 you can't do it. Yeah 07:27 And then if you have to deal with stress, 07:29 then you say, "Well what are healthy ways 07:30 I can deal with stress?" Okay, all right, I got ya 07:32 And healthy ways you can deal with stress are the things 07:35 that God gave us; helping other people; 07:38 getting enough rest; eating good food; 07:40 living the life that we were designed to be; 07:42 being HAPPY; 07:43 trying to move fear out of our lives. 07:46 You know, all of those things will help 07:48 head us in the right direction. 07:50 So if this person is on anxiety, the first person 07:53 I want to applaud them, do some things that 07:54 will help lower anxiety. 07:56 Exercise programs work great. 07:57 Getting on good nutrition works great. 08:01 Cutting back stimulants works great. 08:04 Helping other people works great. 08:06 And sometimes that's ENOUGH to change your chemistry enough 08:10 that you don't need to be a crutch on this medicine. 08:12 All right, very good! 08:14 Okay, another question from heartwiseministries. org 08:17 "I read that stress can be GOOD for a person, 08:21 I also heard stories that it can be bad" 08:23 "Which is it, good or bad?" 08:24 Yeah, we hear that a lot. 08:27 Remember, God made us to have this stress response 08:31 to move away from disasters. 08:34 If we have a lion chasing us 08:37 or if we're scared in the middle of the night, 08:39 or we need a little extra energy, 08:40 we kick these up to keep us alive... Yeah 08:43 But these were only made for short periods of time. 08:46 Can you imagine if the stress response is turned on 08:49 over months and months, years and years, 08:52 and all of the turned-on chemistry, 08:54 that's why sooner or later, people have ulcers... 08:57 Welcome to LIFE! YES! 08:58 They have high blood pressure. 09:00 They have all of this stuff that's going on; 09:02 mental health problems, inflammation, 09:06 the cells attacking the body that doesn't need to be there. 09:10 If it happens years and years, then guess what? 09:12 Our solution is to give medicines! 09:15 But our solution might be just understand 09:18 ...well, what us causing the stress? 09:20 What is off-balance here? 09:21 And if we can work on those things, 09:23 maybe we don't need as many medicines to deal with all this. 09:26 And really, we've got to help people understand their mind, 09:29 making their mind healthier... 09:31 And I think that the worship thing, 09:33 that is scientifically proven now, we know it helps. 09:37 The text in Matthew that says, "Come unto Me, worship Me 09:41 all you that have the stress response turned on all the time, 09:44 "Come and worship Me" 09:45 That's part of the solution here. 09:47 That's a prescription we want you to add to the regimen. 09:50 Don't ignore it... When you ignore it, 09:52 it could make things worse. 09:54 It is so important that we recognize 09:57 that there is stress in the life; 09:58 some of it can't be taken care of, some of it can, 10:00 and what we CAN remove, we need to remove. 10:04 We need to work very hard at that. 10:05 What we CAN'T remove, we need to learn how to 10:08 deal with it in a good way. 10:11 Can we do that alone? 10:13 Is it possible for us to live a life that is just free of 10:18 stress and everything is fine, sort of the Pollyanna effect. 10:21 Is it possible to do that or is it even healthy to that? 10:23 I don't think it's possible to and I look back to... 10:27 Well, what does the Bible teach us about these things? 10:30 Well God had the stress that came into our world 10:35 that messed everything up, 10:37 so the stress is going to be there. 10:38 We all have to do the best we can with it. 10:42 But I do think we're not determined 10:44 to move through this alone. 10:47 I think there's help for us and I think that the 10:49 Ultimate Physician, God, He wants to be our physician 10:52 that helps heal us through all of this illness that we have 10:55 that has brought on the world. 10:57 I think we have help there. 10:58 We always have to ask it, 11:00 and we also are promised to have healing. 11:02 It might not be right away through modern medicine; 11:05 it might be down the road; 11:06 it might be through a relationship, 11:08 but it's in that relationship that God can help heal us 11:12 and deal with this chronic stress that we all have. 11:15 Well, we're going to take a short break, 11:17 and when we come back, we're going to do 11:18 exactly what you said. 11:19 We are going to spend some time talking to the 11:22 Master Physician, the Source of Peace, 11:24 The Source of Love that we need so much in our life 11:27 is available anytime, like Dr. Marcum says, 11:30 no appointment necessary and you won't get a bill. 11:32 That's talking to God in prayer and we're going to do that 11:35 with Dr. James Marcum in just a moment, 11:36 so stay right where you are... 11:50 What an interesting discussion we've had today, 11:53 and just think about it, I hope this has added 11:55 value to your life and at least 1 or 2 things that you can 11:58 take from this moment and use in your life. 12:02 One of the things realizing that your mind does matter. 12:05 There are real chemical changes that happen the way you think. 12:09 So if you find yourself getting mad, take some deep breaths! 12:12 Figure out what you're doing; 12:14 try to improve your chemistry. 12:16 I think this is going to be very important because remember, 12:18 "As a man thinketh, so he is" 12:21 And in Matthew, God has given us a wonderful prescription 12:26 that He gives us as the Ultimate Healer. 12:29 He says, "Come unto me, worship me, be with me, 12:33 have a friendship with me, all you that labor, 12:35 and have heavy labor, all you that are 12:37 stressed out by this world" 12:39 ...Some things we can't even change; 12:41 some things we can't do anything about, 12:43 if you're in that mode, I've given you a treatment, 12:47 "Come unto me and I will give you rest" 12:49 We now have science to prove this chemistry. 12:53 We see our brains improve as we worship. 12:56 All these great things - it just makes me excited 13:00 when I talk about these, let's pray together... 13:03 Father God... I want to thank You for being a 13:06 God that loves us and for taking our minds and using 13:10 them and making them better. 13:11 And Father, I want to pray for those out there today 13:14 that You will come into our minds as we worship You 13:17 make them stronger, turn off this stress chemistry 13:20 and give us this peace and better health 13:23 is our prayer... Amen 13:26 I want to thank you again for joining us. 13:28 If you have a question that you might want to give us, 13:31 go to our website heartwiseministries. org 13:35 We would love to serve YOU today. |
Revised 2014-12-17