A lot of people don’t realize that there are a number of health benefits associated with optimism. In this article, we will discuss the major health benefits which we hope will inspire you to lead an optimistic life rather than a pessimistic one.
Optimists Tend to be Healthier in General
Having a positive outlook on life will tend to make you feel a lot better. Your wellbeing will be very important to you because you need this to achieve your goals and enjoy a brighter future. There have been studies in many countries across the world about optimism and its impact on health.
All of these studies concluded that optimistic people are 50% less likely to suffer from heart disease or other issues with their cardiovascular system. Should an optimist contract a serious illness, they are much more likely to make a full recovery from it.
Similar studies have been conducted with pessimists and negative individuals. The results of these studies showed that pessimists are a lot more likely to suffer from a serious illness and their chances of recovery are a lot slimmer.
Optimism leads to greater Longevity
If you are an optimist then you are likely to live longer. This was confirmed with a famous retrospective study of famous baseball players in the United States. All of the players were Hall of Famers and active from 1900 to 1950. The most optimistic of all these players lived a lot longer than the pessimistic ones.
There have been other studies with people that had serious diseases. Where a patient was more optimistic, the studies showed that they had a much higher chance of making a recovery and living a long life.
Optimists tend to have superior Mental Health
Most people think that if they are suffering from mental health problems that drugs like antidepressants are the answer. Some studies proved that helping people with mental health issues to reframe negatives into positives was far more effective and long lasting than any drugs.
Anxiety and depression are common mental health problems that optimists rarely suffer with. An optimist has a positive outlook on life and will not let the setbacks that they experience overwhelm them and make them anxious and depressed.
Pessimists tend to let even the smallest of issues overwhelm them. This results in them becoming anxious about so many things in their life. They will often resort to antidepressants and other drugs to fix the symptoms. Drugs are not a long-term fix though. These people are likely to derive more benefit from cognitive therapy and a transition to optimism.
Optimists tend to have low levels of Stress
It is highly likely that an optimist will have much lower levels if stress than a pessimist. When you are an optimist, you expect good things to happen to you. If things do go wrong, which they will, then you probably will not be overwhelmed by this and increase the amount of stress in your body.
If an optimist has a problem to solve then they will not dwell on it causing their stress levels to rise. Unlike pessimists, they tend to be a lot more proactive and see positives in every bad situation. A pessimist will probably sit on a problem that they do not know how to solve which will drive up their stress levels.
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