Tag: health risks

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Biblical Wisdom on Anger

Biblical Wisdom on Anger

“Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” That’s the advice Paul gives in Ephesians 4:26, and it’s good advice. Recent research offers new meaning to that biblical wisdom on anger. Paul goes on to write, “…and give no opportunity to the devil.” Jesus said concerning the devil, “He was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). Anger is one more method the devil uses to murder us.

A team of researchers set out to “examine the acute effects of provoked anger…on endothelial cell health.” Endothelial cells line the interior of the body’s blood vessels and play an essential role in blood flow and blood pressure. Previous research had shown that in the hour before a heart attack, people were more than twice as likely to have experienced anger or emotional upset compared to the same time the previous day.

In this new research, the team recruited 280 healthy adults and put them through an eight-minute anger recall test. They monitored blood samples, blood pressure, and the capacity of blood vessels to dilate. That dilation ability is essential for heart health. Research links lower dilation to a higher chance of heart attacks.

After eight minutes of thinking and speaking about a recent experience that made them angry, the test subjects had reduced blood vessel dilation capacity for forty minutes. If eight minutes of recalling and describing an anger experience can result in forty minutes of reduced blood-vessel capacity, what might be the effect of ruminating on anger to the end of the day, overnight, or even longer? This research gives new reasons for releasing your anger before sunset.

Biblical wisdom on anger gives more evidence for the accuracy of God’s Word.

— Roland Earnst © 2024

References: Microsoft News, and Journal of the American Heart Association

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American Marijuana Attitude

American Marijuana Attitude
A recent study showed that most Americans view marijuana favorably thinking that it has significant benefits and few risks. Science does not support the new American marijuana attitude.

The journal Annals of Internal Medicine published the new study on July 23. The researchers conducted an online survey of more than 9,000 people from all over the United States. They found that 81 percent of U.S. adults believe that marijuana has at least one benefit. The most common benefit mentioned was pain management. Other supposed benefits in people’s minds were the treatment of diseases and relief from anxiety, stress, and depression. At the same time, 91 percent of the respondents believe that marijuana has at least one risk. The most common risk mentioned was not medical problems, but legal. They also mentioned addiction and impaired memory. The bottom line is that the American public sees marijuana as having few health risks and significant health benefits.

The prevailing favorable American marijuana attitude is most likely due to the influence of the media. Some individuals and businesses stand to make a massive amount of money on marijuana, and governments see it as a source of tax revenue. In the meantime, the public is ignoring costs in healthcare, addiction treatment, traffic enforcement, and traffic deaths. In a previous post, we reported on a study of the effects of marijuana on the brain. The American Medical Association published information in the JAMA Internal Medicine on the increase in fatal car accidents in the United States on April 20 each year. That’s the cannabis celebration day on which thousands of marijuana enthusiasts light up at 4:20 PM in celebration of pot. The 4/20 celebration has grown as marijuana has become more widely available and legal. According to the JAMA Internal Medicine journal, there was a 12 percent increase in fatal crashes on April 20 and a 38 percent increase among drivers younger than 21.

Since Washington state legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, the percentage of drivers involved in fatal crashes who had traces of marijuana in their blood has doubled. One of the problems involves trying to set a legal limit for marijuana because its effect on the body is very different from alcohol. Blood alcohol level reliably predicts impairment. The level of THC (the chemical in pot) in the blood is not the critical factor until it enters the tissue of the brain where it has its effect. The THC blood level may be lower when the brain is most affected.

Getting high on marijuana makes changes in the human brain and smoking the weed has many of the same health dangers as smoking tobacco. It seems clear that the American marijuana attitude is changing, but it is also clear that we need to step back and think more clearly before our thinking becomes blurred by pot.
–Roland Earnst © 2018