Optimism Might Cut Your Risk for Heart
Attack
Large review also found positive people less likely to suffer
stroke.
Being upbeat is good for
your heart, a new study suggests.
Many previous studies have
shown that negative mental states -- such as depression, anger, anxiety and
hostility -- can harm the heart.
This Harvard School of
Public Health review of more than 200 studies found that positive feelings appear
to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and events such as heart attack
and stroke.
"The absence of the
negative is not the same thing as the presence of the positive," lead
author Julia Boehm, a research fellow in the department of society, human development,
and health, said in a university news release. "We found that factors such
as optimism, life satisfaction and happiness are associated with reduced risk
of [cardiovascular disease] regardless of such factors as a person's age,
socioeconomic status, smoking status or body weight."
"For example, the most
optimistic individuals had an approximately 50 percent reduced risk of
experiencing an initial cardiovascular event compared to their less optimistic
peers," Boehm noted.
The researchers also found
that people with a sense of psychological well-being engaged in healthy
behaviors such as exercising, eating a balanced diet and getting sufficient
sleep. In addition, greater psychological well-being was associated with lower
blood pressure, healthier blood-fat status and normal body weight.
The study was published
online April 17 in the journal Psychological Bulletin.
If future research confirms
that higher levels of satisfaction, optimism and happiness benefit
cardiovascular health, the findings could prove important in the creation of
prevention and treatment strategies, the researchers said.
More than 2,200 Americans
die of cardiovascular disease each day (an average of one death every 39
seconds) and stroke accounts for approximately one in 18 deaths in the United
States, according to the American Heart Association
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