Optimism helps with heart health

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Men with an optimistic outlook were less likely to die from heart disease, according to a new study.
Previous research has suggested that optimism is associated with good health. Now a team at the Institute of Mental Health, Delft, The Netherlands, suggests that optimistic men have a better chance of surviving heart disease.

They surveyed a group of men aged 64 to 84 without pre-existing heart disease or cancer. Their levels of optimism were assessed at intervals over a 15 year period. Those with the highest optimism scores had around a 50 per cent lower risk of dying of heart disease than those with a pessimistic outlook. Optimism does, however, tend to decrease over time. The next stage in this kind of research is to determine whether measures to make people feel more optimistic might decrease their risk of dying from heart disease.

Source
Archives of Internal Medicine 27th February 2006 Volume 166 pages 431-436