03/03/2025
Your Health Depends on Forgiveness.
Whether itโs a simple spat with your spouse or long-held resentment toward a family member or friend, unresolved conflict can go deeper than you may realizeโit may be affecting your physical health. The good news: Studies have found that the act of forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health, lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol levels and sleep; and reducing pain, blood pressure, and levels of anxiety, depression and stress. And research points to an increase in the forgiveness-health connection as you age.
โThere is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed,โ says Karen Swartz, M.D., director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Chronic anger puts you into a fight-or-flight mode, which results in numerous changes in heart rate, blood pressure and immune response. Those changes, then, increase the risk of depression, heart disease and diabetes, among other conditions. Forgiveness, however, calms stress levels, leading to improved health.
Can You Learn to Be More Forgiving?
Forgiveness is not just about saying the words. โIt is an active process in which you make a conscious decision to let go of negative feelings whether the person deserves it or not,โ Swartz says. As you release the anger, resentment and hostility, you begin to feel empathy, compassion and sometimes even affection for the person who wronged you.
Studies have found that some people are just naturally more forgiving. Consequently, they tend to be more satisfied with their lives and to have less depression, anxiety, stress, anger and hostility. People who hang on to grudges, however, are more likely to experience severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as other health conditions. But that doesnโt mean that they canโt train themselves to act in healthier ways. In fact, 62 percent of American adults say they need more forgiveness in their personal lives, according to a survey by the nonprofit Fetzer Institute.
Making Forgiveness Part of Your Life
Forgiveness is a choice, Swartz says. โYou are choosing to offer compassion and empathy to the person who wronged you.โ The following steps can help you develop a more forgiving attitudeโand benefit from better emotional and physical health.