Originally published July 20 2005
Optimism is good for your health
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Harry Spalding, guest columnist for The Kentucky Standard, advises that being optimistic leads to better health, citing a Harvard study that found optimists were better at handling disease and were more likely than pessimists to live longer, more active and healthier lives.
About 10 years ago I went to a medical meeting sponsored by Harvard in Boston.
The study found that optimists did appreciably better in handling disease than pessimists, regardless of whether the condition was inoperable cancer, heart disease, Multiple Sclerosis, chronic severe infections, severe arthritis or other equally serious diseases.
Optimists lived longer, had less pain, had a better quality of life, remained more active, and had a general amelioration of their disease.
They had more T cells (disease fighting lymphocytes), and higher levels of immune globulin proteins in their blood.
The whole field of the connection between the mind on the physical aspects of the body, and the neurohumoral effects is most interesting, and I'm sure there will be evidence with more fascinating results and explanations in the future.
Of course other aspects of optimism versus pessimism have results on general good health.
Optimists are more apt to work through their pain, and get up and exercise even though they don't feel like it.
The old adage -- if you don't use it, you lose it -- comes into play.
Pessimists who give up and don't exercise, have a general atrophy of their musculature and cardiovascular reserve, and speed up the process of their disease.
Debilitating diseases, including many cancers tend to take away the appetite -- physically and psychologically.
Optimists tend to make themselves eat even though they don't feel like it and may even become nauseated.
As a result the body's need for normal caloric intake to keep up mobility and activity, maintain the body's mass (muscles, bones, etc.), and to ensure the functioning of all cells in the body, decreases with debilitating results.
Of course optimism needs to be accompanied by reality, and impossible goals not set.
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