Optimistic women have decreased risk of death from major health issues such as stroke, heart disease, cancer, respiratory diseases, and infection, reports a recent study.
The researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health noted that positive outlook in life has a significant role in increasing the life span of women.
Role Of Optimism In Health
Eric Kim, the study's co-lead author said that while most of public and medical healthcare efforts focus to decrease the risk factors of various diseases, the growing body of evidences suggest that optimistic thoughts would help in manage these factors effectively.
Kim also noted that it is essential to motivate people to be optimistic since it is found to encourage healthy behaviors that could help them in facing the challenges of life in a better way. While healthy lifestyle has a substantial role to play in inducing optimism and reducing death risks, high levels of optimism directly influence our biological systems.
Optimism And Women's Health
For the purpose of the study, the researchers reviewed data obtained from Nurses' Health Study between 2004 and 2012. The study that followed about 70,000 women tracked and collected information on their health through surveys every two years.
The research was focused on the optimism levels of people and other factors that impact positive thinking in relation to mortality risks such as physical activity, diet, high blood pressure, and race.
Optimism Effects
Notably, women with high degree of optimism were found to have 30 percent decreased risk of death from diseases when compared with less optimistic women. The most optimistic women had reduced risk of death from cancer by 16 percent, stroke by 39 percent, heart and respiratory diseases by 38 percent, and infection by 52 percent.
While a number of studies conducted earlier established a positive association between optimism and reduced mortality risk from cardiovascular diseases, the current study is the first to find an association between optimism and other major health issues.
"Previous studies have shown that optimism can be altered with relatively uncomplicated and low-cost interventions — even something as simple as having people write down and think about the best possible outcomes for various areas of their lives, such as careers or friendships," said, Kaitlin Hagan, the study's co-lead author, in a press release.
The study that was funded by National Institutes of Health is published online in the American Journal of Epidemiology on Dec. 7.
