I have been a real advocate for developing a positive attitude. Recently there was an interesting brief article in my local paper which caught my attention. Finally, there is medical validity that an optimistic attitude is good for the heart. The question raised in the study was: Does a person’s outlook on life-whether, for instance, they think good things or bad things will happen in the future, affect the health of his or her heart?
In this study were 97,253 women, 50 to 79 years old, who did not have cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study. The finding that impressed me so was that in the next 8 years the women with the most optimistic attitude were and I will quote ” 9% less likely to develop heart disease, 14% less likely to die prematurely from any cause and 39% less likely to die from heart disease than were women deemed to be the most pessimistic”.
I have maintained all along that having an optimistic attitude is good for over all health and well being but finally here are convincing results that validate it. There are three other important factors for strengthening ones attitude: 1. you feel better,2. you have more friends, 3. life is more fun. Fortunately the people who are in the habit of being pessimistic (unless suffering from serious depression) can learn to change their attitude and improve their health.
