Optimism Makes You Healthier

Written by Lovelyn on February 23, 2009 – 4:23 pm -

I like science based programs and the other day I watched a show about methods people to stay young. The show covered everything from calorie restriction to human growth hormone injections. There was an extreme and gruesome segment in the show about head transplants. There’s one simple method that we can all use to extend our lives that they didn’t cover in the show.

I bet you’ve heard that your attitude affects your health before. Well it’s true research has shown that people with positive attitudes are less likely to get seriously ill. It can affect everything from your risk of getting a cold to heart disease.

The Research

The Department of Veterans Affairs studied a group of 1,306 men in the Boston area. They had the men fill out questionnaires to determine whether they had optimistic or pessimistic attitudes. They tracked the men for 10 years and found that the men with negative attitudes suffered from more incidents of angina and heart attacks than the men with positive attitudes.

Erik J. Giltay, M.D., Ph.D. did a similar study in the Netherlands. He studied the elderly population and found that people with positive attitudes were 55% less likely to die from illness and had a 23% less risk of dying from heart disease. He also found that positive attitude has a greater affect on men than women.

Becoming More Optimistic

Having a positive attitude is such a simple thing to do and not only does it help decrease your risk of getting disease it help s improve the quality of your life. I have to admit that at times I struggle to have an optismistic attitude. I’m a natural worrier. If you have the same problem, here are some techniques you can use to develop a more positive attitude.

Don’t dwell on the negative. Negative events will happen in your life. It may be important to analyze them to see why they happened and prevent them from happening again but don’t dwell on them. Figure out what went on and move on. Remember that this isn’t necessarily a reflection of you.

When something positive happens analyze that too.Try to pick out the positive qualities about yourself that contributed to it happening.

Imagine the possibilities. Don’t be afraid to use your imagination. Dream a bit. Do the things that move you in the direction of your dreams.

Be proactive. Don’t depend on others to make you happy. You have to find happiness within yourself. I wrote a post about this not too long ago called Happiness is a Choice.

Photo by Capture Queen.

Subscribe to my free newsletter, Healthy Times, and get a free ebook about self-massage. Click here to find out more.

Survey

Help make this blog a little better and take a few seconds to complete this survey. Click Here to take survey.

Tweet This Stumble This

Share/Save This

Tags: health, how to become an optimist, optimism
Posted in Smart Living |

2 Comments to “Optimism Makes You Healthier”

Vered - MomGrind Says:
February 24th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I can’t say I’m surprised. Of course, if you are naturally a pessimist, it’s not easy to change.
Everything Counts Says:
July 11th, 2009 at 1:11 am
Optimism is the very core of our success. Unless we are optimistic about our venture we can never think about attaining the target. There is simply no motivation to go about it.