Affirmations: The Science
Every second of every day, your body is physically changing in response to the thoughts that run through your head. A single thought causes a chain reaction of messages and chemicals impacting virtually every aspect of the body, including the way you feel emotionally.
For instance, a moment of expressing gratitude triggers reward neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine resulting in an uplifted state of being. Thoughts about stumbling over your words at tomorrow’s presentation, however, means a surge in stress and anxiety related hormones.
Affirmations are a super simple yet effective way to harness this power for positive growth. Science now understands through neuroplasticity that over time and with repetition, your thoughts have the ability change your brain, your cells and even your genes.
What Is an Affirmation?
Chances are, you’ve heard the term affirmation; perhaps you dabbled with them but found it an awkward experience or maybe you dismissed the idea as New Age Woo.
But there is genuine science behind how and why affirmations work.
First things first, what is an affirmation?
Put simply, they are positive phrases or statements used to challenge negative, unhelpful or anxiety producing thoughts.
The Science Behind Affirmations
Science has shown that our brains are malleable and can be rewired by our thinking. Evidence-based research shows that affirmations can change the brain on a cellular level. Dr. Joseph Dispenza explains, “Thoughts make a chemical. If you have happy thoughts, then you’re producing chemicals that make you feel happy. Negative, angry thoughts and fearful thoughts also produce chemicals to make you feel how you’re thinking.”
Positive statements activate the reward centres of the brain - the same centres that respond to pleasurable experiences and sensations. This reward centre is incredibly powerful and helps to maintain balance when you are stressed. When repeating affirmations that focus on your personal strengths you are training your brain to view yourself in a less critical way. Naturally then, it helps to build resilience as you feel confident in your abilities rather than listening to the negative chatter.
The study also discovered that saying affirmations helps with emotional regulation - a person’s ability to effectively manage uprising emotions. For many, encountering negative feelings such as stress, sadness and anger can feel intense and overwhelming. Through daily affirmations, you can prime areas of the brain associated with emotional regulation so that you are ready to receive and respond to stress.
This is all pretty cool right? We have the power to influence the way we feel through the choice of our thoughts. It’s really just a case of becoming aware of how you talk to yourself and making positive changes. Keep your eyes open for the next post on how to create affirmations that actually work for you.
Next time we’ll look at how to create authentic affirmations that really work for you. For the meantime, explore with some of the affirmations below or check out Louise Hay’s daily affirmations:
I am happy
I am at peace with myself
I choose to think positively and compassionately
I am grateful
So now you know how affirmations work, stay tuned for my next post on affirmations, it’s going to transform the way you think and talk to yourself!
Love as always
Alexandra x
