Hopefulness and Confidence May Build Your Life Longer Claims a New Study
Along with physical health, it is vital to take care of our mental health. In fact, our emotional health has a significant impact on our physical health. Latest medical research has come to the point that an optimistic outlook on life can prove to be an essential and catalytic ingredient to your longer and healthier life.
A recent study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology by the Harvard University’s School of Public Health found that women for whom the glass was always half-full significantly minimized the risk of dying due to cancer, stroke, heart disease, respiratory issues, and infection.
According to Dr. Eric Kim, co-lead author of this study and research fellow at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, while most of the medical and public health efforts focused on reducing risk factors for diseases, evidence had been mounting that upgrading psychological resilience might also make a difference.
The new findings suggest and recommend that we should make efforts to think positively and boost optimism that has been shown to be related to healthier behaviors and healthier ways of handling life challenges. The Harvard University study finds a direct link between positivity and better health.
The research is conducted on the data of 70,000 women via biennial surveys between 2004 and 2012. In essence, they studied the participants’ optimistic level and the factors affecting their mortality such as diet, sleep, blood pressure, physical activity and race. And they discovered that the most optimistic women had an almost 30 percent lower risks of dying due to any disease analyzed in the research study in comparison with the least optimistic women. According to Dr. Kim, a healthy lifestyle may explain the link between optimism and reduced mortality risks.
According to Dr. Kaitlin Hagan, research fellow and co-lead author of the new study, earlier studies had shown that optimism could be altered with comparatively clear and cheap interventions. Even something as simple as having someone write down and contemplate about the best possible results for various corners of their lives, e.g. careers, family relationships, business outcomes, and friendships.
The way we look at the things has an incredible impact on our life. According to the recent study led by Dr. Eric Kim and D. Kaitlin Hagan, higher optimism directly impacts our overall biological systems improving health. Furthermore, research has shown that the most optimistic women had lower death risks due to various chronic issues such as heart attacks, cancer, and infection compared with least optimistic women. Utilization of such interventions could be an exceptionally innovative way to improve health in the future.
