Lying is dangerous to health

To some people, lying is part of their nature and there is nothing one can do to change this view. In this report, Adebayo Waheed, highlights some adverse medical effects of lying on health

WHETHER one is not being honest with himself or with others, he or she is negatively affecting his or her health in the short or long term. If your neighbour in the same community has invited you to a ceremony and when you look through your schedule for the week, you realised that throughout the month, you have a lot of engagements, an indication that you don’t have time for such an occasion, what do you do? Instead of being honest with yourself, you smile and agreed to attend the ceremony.

For some people, the biggest stress factor in life is attempting to please everyone. This always leads to saying yes to every invitation extended to them by their friends and neighbours until their schedules are packed with events to the extent that they do not have time to relax, rest and for themselves.

According to investigation, the only thing that can come from this is an overwhelming feeling that people were leading out-of-control lives. Honestly, one should look at what he can realistically accomplish in his schedule and not forge to save time for himself.

People should not be afraid to say no to additional burdens. This is because when they found themselves denying the fact they were feeling negative emotions, it leads to stress. Nowhere else is stress more directly linked to the development of a disease than in cancer.”

Speaking on lying as it affects one’s health, the proprietor of J.M.V. Hospitals in Ibadan, Oyo State, Dr. Olumiyiwa Olugbesan, said that ordinarily, looking at the topic, it would be as if they are connected, that is lying and one’s health. But if you look deeply and you consider the definition of the World Health Organisation (WHO), health has not been the absence of illness but being a state of complete physical and mental health, you will find out that there is correlation.”

According to him, there are some people who lie when they are being investigated, they are subjected to lie detector,” what the test does is to measure the sweat, the pulse rate, the heart rate and the respiratory rate of such an individuals. “Definitely, if there is a machine that can measure minute changes in the pulse rate and heart beat, it means that the changes actually take place on the body at the time he tells a lie,” he said.

The medical personnel explained that if one is a chronic liar, telling lies all the times about situations and conditions, such minute changes that take place in the body would also take place for a prolong period of time” and when that happens, we know that there is correlation between that kind of a situation and the ability to resist infections, immune system and the cardio- vascular system.

“We know that people who tell lies must have a compromised immune system in the sense that they will be more prone to infections, they will be prone to illnesses,” he said. While noting that there was no particular illness, ailment or disease that is caused by lying, he said that the only thing was that it is a correction between stress and some illness and infections. “If a person is going to have malaria, it is possible that if he has just been questioned or investigated and he told a lot of lies, even you, will know that you are under stress. The stress will compromise your immune system. It will make the attack to come faster than in a person, who is in a complete state of well being, who has not told a lie, relax, peaceful and at peace with himself,” he said.

The medical personnel corroboratted a research which confirmed that effects of emotional stress on the body often lead to cancer, when he said “I know that there are some studies that have correlated stress with some cancers and we know lying would put you in a state of stress.

“If you lie over a prolong period, you become a chronic liar, it means that the stress will also become chronic and so, you have that correlation,” he said. Apart from cancer which can be caused as a result of stress, Dr. Olugbesan stated that stress could lead to hypertension or high blood pressure, “opens you to cardio vascular problem, mental illness and other stress related problems.” As a way out, neuroendocrinology was a new field that has emerged from the studies involving the connection between the mind and emotions on the autonomic, immune and endocrine systems.

According to a research, people should do everything they can do to honestly assess their emotions and release the stress through breathing techniques, exercise or talking about their feeling. This way it can lessen their risk of cancer. Though it is very difficult for many people to speak up about their feelings, but the research said that the most powerful way to neutralise negative emotions was to acknowledge them.

“When you honestly admit your feelings, you protect yourself from the flood of damaging stress hormones that these feelings produce in your body. Get it off your chest, clue people in if you are feeling disappointed, unhappy or hurt about something,” it said. Dr. Olugbesan suggested that the way out is “to be as truthful as possible and honesty, saying “there is no way you can be caught in telling the truth but you can be caught in a lie and found yourself embarrassed.”

But the research further suggested that people should be honest when they convey the feelings, be kind when they criticise and be positive when expressing their views. “Once you acknowledge your feelings, they will be less likely to trouble you. Or hold your feelings inside and you become a “ticking time” bomb, ready to explode at some minor incident — not a pretty picture for your long- term health,” it stated.