2 important things Happen to your body when you tell a lie

Everybody does it every now and then but many don't admit doing it. Some do it to hide who they really are, to avoid getting caught, or to spare someone else's feelings. I am talking about LYING. You guessed right?

Lying is an enormous part of our life. When you lie you have to consider what you are trying to hide, figure out a believable version of the opposite, give a convincing performance to sell that lie, and then remember it for the rest of eternity so you never get caught.

According to deception expert Pamela Meyer, "the average person lies three times within the first 10 minutes of meeting a stranger between 10 and 200 times a day.

According to Mashable, research has shown that, in the last month, 15% of people admitted to telling a lie at work. While 59% of those didn't feel guilty about it.

However, the type of lies/cultural expectation depends on the job, for example, 94% of people expect politicians to lie in their work, but only 27% agreed to doctors lying.

You don't always lie on purpose, but whether you lie intentionally or not, do you really know how your body reacts when you tell a lie?

Highlighted below are two (2) things lying does to your  body

1. Lying Changes Your Brain

Here are the good stuff you think lying does for you.

By lying:

• You could cover up someone's action for them
• You could protect someone you care about
• You could protect your reputation
• You could hide things that are painful to yourself and others
• You can reveal certain things while keeping others hidden.

When you lie, 3 sections of the brain are stimulated.

First, the frontal lobe is activated which helps suppress the truth and help you lie better, followed by the limbic system as a result of anxiety from lying, and lastly, the temporal lobe which is responsible for retrieving memories and creating mental images.

Scientists have shown that lying gets easier for you when you lie so often. This is because lying changes the brain. A research on the Amygdala (the part of the brain that deals with emotional response) by neuroscientists, shows that the amygdala shows up less and less as you lie more and more.

Essentially, your guilt feelings, tend to weaken and shrink.

The moment you lie, the stress of formulating a story causes your nervous system to release cortisols into your brain, says Arthur Markman. If the lie is massive, you even experience an adrenaline rush; your heartbeat quickens, your pupil dilate and you begin to sweat.

Your brain has to keep track of what you know and what you told the other person. And that is very taxing for your working memory which is involved in decision making and problem-solving. As a result, your brain's ability to make smart decisions suffers.

The Infographic below explains what really happens in your brain when you lie

2. Lying Makes You Sick

You lie to avoid many things, but what you don't know is that the avoidance of the truth can be hazardous to your health, according to new research. Lies you tell could actually lead to a headache, sore throats, running nose, back ache and feeling sad and stressed.

The burden of living with your lie will cause you chronic anxiety. And the continuous circulation of stress hormones like cortisol in your brain hurts your ability to think clearly and depresses your immune system. As a result, you are more likely to catch a cold. You may even have a problem sleeping, which intensifies the issue.

According to Markman, "Sleep remove emotional tone of your memories". So if you sleep poorly, you will experience negative emotions, even though time has passed.

while these harmful responses may fade over time, they could resurface if you feel your lie may be exposed, according to Markman.

Anita Kelly, a professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA, spent 10 weeks tracking the health of 110 adults (ages 18 - 71 years). She asked half the students to stop lying through out the period of the study - which meant no false statements. While the other half weren't given any specific instruction, so they were allowed to tell a lie. Participants were made to fill questionnaires about their physical and mental health as well as the quality of relationship during the study.

According to Kelly's research, participants who began telling the truth more often experience 54% fewer mental health complaints (like headaches, back ache, etc). They showed vast improvement in health, while the other groups were having depreciating health.

Kelly further opined that the size of a lie doesn't have much impact on its health effect. Both white lies and major lies can be problematic. The lesser lie you tell, the more your health improves.

The effect for some is immediate, while for others it's a slow build up of physical problems like headaches. The more guilt and anxiety you feel, the more physical and mental illness you will experience.

Telling the truth may get you in trouble, but in the long run, it will feel better to get things out in the open. "The truth shall set you free".

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