5 Ancient and Old Beliefs Proven by Science

Often we see how the science community scoffs and even demonizes beliefs and customs that are hundreds, even thousands of years old. Despite the fact that many have testified in favor of these beliefs, medicines, practices, etc.

Still, those who follow these old paths remained calm and waited until the day their ancient knowledge was proven right.

In the past few years, this is exactly what has happened. Although some of these discoveries don’t encompass the entire scope of the belief or knowledge, it still proves some of it right. And it gives hope that soon every single aspect will be proven scientifically and accepted.

With that said, here are 5 Ancient Beliefs Proven by Science.

1. Everything is Connected (and affects us)

For generations, natives all across the world have reminded us and told stories about how everything in the world is connected whether it is plants, animals, humans, the moon, and the stars.

But, most of us have either ignored this piece of wisdom, actively scoffed at it, or just didn’t believe in it.

The problem is that, whether we like it or not, everything is truly connected. The actions of others do impact us, either directly or indirectly.

An example that everything is connected and affects us are the Yellowstone Park wolves. Yellowstone National Park in the United States was home to grey wolves prior to the 1920s when they were hunted and eradicated.

At first, people rejoiced when the wolves were killed but as time went by scientists began to see the devastating effects that eradicating the wolves had on the park. Without the wolves, the elk could now roam free and multiply without pressure.

With elks roaming free and no constant hunters after them, the elk wreaked havoc on the park by over foraging. No wolves meant that the elk could now stay in one place for longer periods of time, which resulted in them almost eating some plants to extinction.

No plants meant that there was nothing holding the soil together and erosion concerns started appearing in the community. Not only that, but the fewer plants there were the fewer other animals could find shelter and food, which made the beaver population shrink.

As the beaver population shrank, there were fewer dams that could home fish, replenish the water table by storing water, and evening out the water running off to the earth, among others.

The Yellowstone National Park was deteriorating so badly that in 1995 scientists decided to bring in grey wolves from Canada. It was challenging at first but the wolves were acclimated to their new home and slowly, but surely they began to help the Park blossom again by keeping the elk in check.

Now there are an estimated 8 packs containing approximately 69 wolves in Yellowstone. Although scientists aren’t exactly sure of the entire scope of effects reintroducing wolves has had on the park, they state that it all has been positive, and now the park, along with its inhabitants, is becoming healthier and more stable.

2. Trees talk to each other (and are connected)

Nature, in this case, plants, has the ability to communicate with each other through intricate underground organic networks and electrical signals.

According to studies conducted by Dr. Suzanne Simard, a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia, trees are connected underground by a fungal network.

The fungi have many threads that form what is called a mycelium. These threads or mycelium attach and grow out from the tips of tree roots and connect other roots from other trees together. This connection is called a mycorrhizal network.

Through this mycorrhizal network, the tree and the fungi exchange chemical messages, like carbon and other nutrients.

Dr. Simard has also discovered that Mother trees can recognize their young. The mother trees (oldest trees) can also send their kin or younglings nutrients and messages through the mycorrhizal network.

“When the mother trees are injured or dying,” said Dr. Simard at a TED talk, “they send messages of wisdom to the younger generation.”

By using tracers, Dr. Simard and her team, have discovered that injured mother trees send carbon and defense signals to their kin which has been seen to help the kin increase resistance to future stresses.

The mycorrhizal network can extend thousands of kilometers, and according to Dr. Simard, turns the forest into one big living organism.

Similarly, in a different TED talk, ecologist Florianne Koechlin talked about how tomatoes communicated with scent. It has been discovered that not only do tomato plants know when they are being attacked but also who is attacking them by identifying the saliva of the creature.

According to Koechlin, depending on the animal who is attacking them they expel different cocktails of scents to attract predators that would eat the animals attacking the plant. Tomato plants also use these scents to warn other tomato plants of danger.

Koechlin continues by giving more examples of what plants are able to do like being able to identify twenty environmental signals more than humans, they can sense electromagnetic waves, and plants can also respond to smell, taste, touch, sight, and sound.

When talking about marigolds, Koechlin stated that they sweat a substance into their roots to impede other plants from growing near them.

“Plants can do more”, said Koechlin, “they can learn and remember. Birch trees have been found to remember a past event for as long as four years.”

3. What you think, speak, and intent can change the physical realm

One of the most known experiments on the water is that of Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist who was studying the properties of water.

In the 1990s Dr. Emoto conducted a series of experiments with water where he saw how the frozen water particles turned out after exposing them to different stimuli.

Dr. Emoto’s first water experiment consisted of putting various words and phrases like “love”, “thank you”, “I hate you” and “I love you”, around different water bottles. He then took drops of these waters, put them on crystal slides, and deep-froze them.

What Dr. Emoto saw through his microscope was that the water that had had the positive messages wrapped around them created aesthetically pleasing crystals, while the bottles that had had the negative messages, had produced crystals that were unattractive and shapeless.

A second experiment with water saw the doctor play different types of music to separate sets of water. He noticed that when he played classical music the water formed beautiful crystals, while the water that had been exposed to heavy metal had produced shapeless and disorganized crystals.

The third experiment conducted by Dr. Emoto included rice. He put rice inside three different glass vases and covered the rice with water. For thirty days the doctor said, “Thank you” to one glass, “you’re an idiot” to a second glass, and ignored the third.

After a month the rice that had been thanked began to ferment and give off a pleasant aroma, the rice that had been ignored began to rot and the rice that had gotten been insulted turned black.

Dr. Emoto showed not only that water can retain the intentions of whatever or whoever is around them, but also that intentions have the ability to shape the outside world as well as ourselves being that humans are 70% percent water.

Subsequently, these experiments showed that positive interactions help things thrive and become healthy. Which is an approach Dr. Emoto desires that everyone in the world would take in terms of their relationships.

4. The Earth Heals

We’ve all heard this before, the Earth has healing powers and can help you if you let it. But, how true is this statement? Does the Earth truly have healing powers? According to research, the earth does have healing capabilities.

The Earth heals by ways of the free electrons on the soil. Research states that coming in contact with the soil’s electrons helps balance the body’s positive ions, especially those located in the head.

By regularly being exposed to these negative ions, whether by direct contact through skin or with the help of specialized pads, people have experienced positive health benefits and even improved their health overall.

A study published in the National Center for Biotechnology Information, states that earthing or grounding, as this practice is called, helps with a number of health problems that include:

• Better sleep

• Relief and/or disappearance of chronic pain

• Lowering cortisol levels

• Protecting from EMF from house electronics

• Helping the body switch from being stressed to being in a state of relaxation

• Improving heart rate

• Lowering inflammation

• Reducing primary indicators of osteoporosis

• Improving glucose regulation

• Reducing blood viscosity and alleviating pain to the point where it is not noticeable

It is recommended that people, especially those suffering from pain, sleep disorders, and stress, take up an earthing practice for at least 15 minutes a day to improve their overall health.

5. You can really die of a broken heart

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or broken-heart syndrome happens when a person experiences severe emotional or physical stressors. Some of these physical stressors are the loss of a loved one, a break-up, an accident, asthma attack, intense fear, and receiving bad news, among others.

Although rare, people have died of the broken-heart syndrome before. Still, according to health experts, most people make a full recovery between 2 weeks to a month after they have experienced the episode.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is hard to tell apart from a heart attack because the symptoms are similar. But tests like the EKG, can be used to determine whether there are blocked arteries and other complications of a heart attack, and see if the patient has truly suffered from a heart attack or the broken-heart syndrome.

Experts aren’t truly sure what causes takotsubo cardiomyopathy yet, but it is believed that the weakening and ballooning of the bottom left portion of the heart (left ventricle) is caused by a surge of stress hormones that stun the heart and prevent the left ventricle from contracting.

Health professionals suggest that people who have experienced this syndrome work on taking out big stressors in their life and find ways to relax to prevent another episode.