Prepping for Better Health with Forgiveness

The very real physical health advantages obtained through expressing gratitude, having hope, loving others, and sharing hugs and kisses have been covered previously on this blog. Forgiveness is another tool in the emotional medicine chest that can help us be healthier in the days ahead. 

Those who’ve spent time attending church and listening to lessons or sermons have often been counseled on the importance of forgiving others.  Such a broad topic can take any number of approaches, but the focus here today is on the health benefits afforded the one who forgives.

Forgiveness doesn’t necessarily involve reconciliation.  Forgiving others of the harm they inflict or seek to inflict on us and our loved ones does not mean reconciliation.  It doesn’t mean setting ourselves up to receive more pain.  Forgiveness does mean not wishing ill upon those who have hurt us.  (You know, not pushing that magic red button we all wish we’d purchased as one of the options on our last vehicle.)

Forgiveness is for ourselves, letting the anger go.  In our future world in which Christians and conservatives are persecuted, and knowing the history of world wars, famines, economic collapse, and how the well-prepared have been persecuted by the fools who chose not to, we may well have many opportunities to practice forgiveness in the future.  How are we going to forgive those who are actively—currently—trying to kill us and our families? 

How are we going to release the anger?  Because I think it will be so difficult, it’s something to contemplate now, to perhaps learn how to use this difficult tool now, clumsy as we may be, so that we will be a little better able to use it in the future with the really hard issues.

Because we all have those grudges and hurts we cling to (then again, maybe I’m the only one), let’s consider first the actual physical benefits of forgiving those who have hurt us.  Because this is a relatively new field of study, there isn’t a lot of research.  However, just thinking about how often we are counseled in the scriptures to forgive others, reiterates the importance of the act as well as the relevance to our health.

In a study focused on incest survivors, it was found that those who forgive reduce their levels of anxiety and depression and increase their self-esteem.[1]

Research with hospitalized patients found that higher levels of forgiveness were related to lower levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.  It’s theorized that forgiveness may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.[2]

Studies conducted with fibromyalgia patients revealed that these people reported “more pain and anger and poorer health and quality of life,” which isn’t unexpected given their illness.  What was surprising, though, is that fibromyalgia patients report lower levels of forgiveness of themselves and others.[3]  Learning to forgive not only lessens emotional and physical pain.  It may prevent some pain from ever developing.

Research with HIV, breast cancer, and coronary artery disease patients showed that those with lower levels of forgiveness either experience more pain or have a decreased tolerance for pain.[4] [5]  Harboring hurts can hurt.

Forgiving ourselves and others has been shown to help us sleep better.  And better sleep means better health.[6]

And so we see that not only does harboring feelings of resentment and anger affect our present mood and relationships, it also actually affects our health![7] 

The bottom line is we must forgive others (including ourselves) of their sins and trespasses, intentional or not, and regardless of whether they seek or deserve forgiveness.  Our well-being depends on it.  These other people have already hurt us.  It would be foolish to let them steal our good health as well.

Links to related posts:

Prepping with Hugs and Kisses  

The Importance of Hope

The Rabbit Effect and Individual Health  

The Health Benefits of Gratitude 

For further reading:

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/forgiving-people-is-good-for-your-health-here-s-how-to-do-it

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolefisher/2019/03/29/science-says-religion-is-good-for-your-health/?sh=6cf74d0b3a12

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[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-forgiving-life/201904/is-forgiveness-related-physical-health

[2] Friedberg JP, Suchday S, Srinivas VS. Relationship between forgiveness and psychological and physiological indices in cardiac patients. Int J Behav Med. 2009;16(3):205-11.

[3] Offenbaecher, M., Dezutter, J., Kohls, N., Sigl, C., Vallejo, M. A., Rivera, J., Bauerdorf, F., Schelling, J., Vincent, A., Hirsch, J. K., Sirois, F. M., Webb, J. R., & Toussaint, L. L. (2017). Struggling with adversities of life: The role of forgiveness in patients suffering from fibromyalgia. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 33(6), 528–534, https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-20074-007 (accessed 3 January 2024).

[4] O'Beirne S, Katsimigos AM, Harmon D. Forgiveness and chronic pain: a systematic review. Ir J Med Sci. 2020 Nov;189(4):1359-1364.

[5] Waltman MA, Russell DC, Coyle CT, Enright RD, Holter AC, M Swoboda C. The effects of a forgiveness intervention on patients with coronary artery disease. Psychol Health. 2009 Jan;24(1):11-27.

[6] Toussaint L, Gall AJ, Cheadle A, Williams DR. Editor choice: Let it rest: Sleep and health as positive correlates of forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness. Psychol Health. 2020 Mar;35(3):302-317

[7] A. Patel, Cardiovascular Benefits of Forgiveness in Women: A Psychophysiological Study, Psychology, 1 May 2013, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Cardiovascular-Benefits-of-Forgiveness-in-Women:-A-Patel/330f084742fcc03e8a2798602dc03141b9379e6f (accessed 3 January 2024).