A new study from the University of Illinois revealed that people who have a positive outlook in life have better cardiovascular health.
Becoming an optimist is good for the heart, according to a new study from the University of Illinois. The research was conducted on 5,100 adults between the ages 45 and 84. The findings revealed that being happy and positive is good for the heart while being cynical and pessimistic may be bad for the health.
The participants completed surveys to gauge their mental health and level of optimism. Then, their general health status was measured. The researchers looked into each participant's blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, cholesterol levels, body mass index, diet, physical activity and cigarette smoking. These are used as measuring metrics by the American Heart Association to assess cardiovascular health.
"Individuals with the highest levels of optimism have twice the odds of being in ideal cardiovascular health compared to their more pessimistic counterparts. This association remains significant, even after adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics and poor mental health," lead author Rosalba Hernandez, a professor of social work at the University of Illinois, said in a press release.
Heart disease is one of the deadliest diseases around the world. In the United States, heart disease kills approximately 2,200 people every day. Thus, it is the leading cause of death in the country.
"This association remains significant even after adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics and poor mental health," Hernandez added.
The scores of the participants increased in accordance to the levels of their optimism. More optimistic people were 50 and 76 percent more likely to have better health scores in the intermediate and ideal ranges respectively.
When the socio-demographic data were collated with the date, the link between optimism and heart health became stronger. They found out that optimistic people were twice as likely to have ideal cardiovascular health and 55 percent more likely to have a total health score in the intermediate range.
People with positive outlook in life had better laboratory results in terms of blood sugar and total cholesterol levels than those who were pessimists. Hence, being happy and positive may truly have a positive effect on the body.
