Do Optimists Outlive Pessimists?

Posted 09-29-2009 3:44 am by
Ladies, need a reason to smile? 

How’s this one: A new study recently published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that women who prefer looking at the bright side of life rather than the not-so-bright are less likely to get heart disease and die of any cause in a given time period, compared to other women who are more pessimistic. How so? Optimists are less stressed and have strong assessment and coping skills to deal with any problems head-on, in contrast to pessimists.

This reinforces the beliefs of many of those in the healthcare industry – that the link between attitude and health is very strong. According to the study’s lead author, Dr. Hilary Tindle, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, she states that “pessimism may be as bad as having high blood pressure – a well known heart risk factor – when it comes to cardiovascular health.”

In the study, which included 97,253 postmenopausal women ages 50-79 who were all healthy and free of cancer and cardiovascular disease at the start, the most optimistic women had a 9 percent lower risk of developing heart disease and a 14 percent lower risk of dying from any cause compared to their most pessimistic counterparts over the course of eight years.

The most optimistic women appear to have a survival advantage, as they had a 16 percent lower risk of stroke, a 30 percent lower risk of heart disease-related death, and a 24 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease-related death than those who were pessimists. In the study, it was also observed that pessimists are also more likely to have other heart risk factors such as being overweight and having a sedentary lifestyle.

Bottom line – according to Dr. Kirk Garratt, an associate director of the division of cardiac intervention and director of the coronary care unit at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York – “Nobody has a clear cut answer, but there’s a strong sense that attitude impacts physiology.”

Can a change in attitude help lower your risk of heart problems in the future? Sure is worth it to try and see!

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