Dr. Michael Evans of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto writes in The Globe and Mail that Optimism May Help Ward Off Disease.  He cites a recent study from Dr. Hilary Tindle et al in Circulation (the journal of the American Hearth Association) that followed 97,000 women and found that optimism is predictive of less heart disease.

Evans tells the story of a patient:

Marie was 64 when she contracted a rare form of cancer in the bile duct. Her prognosis was poor. We tried many interventions and had some success but, alas, only in the short term.

Marie was a teacher and had researched a new therapy based in, of course, California. It seemed to be a hybrid of unproven but promising new medical treatments with some alternative treatments added to the mix.

She had the money and an incredible, even refreshing, faith in this therapeutic cocktail, and wanted to try it while she was still relatively healthy. Tickets were bought and I wished her bonne chance .

She received a call the day before she was to leave to say there’d been a mistake, and she didn’t qualify for their program. Marie died the following week.

While the news about the health impact of optimism isn’t new, it’s a good reminder about the importance of becoming more optimistic.

We recently asked happier.con consultant Dr. Acacia Parks-Sheiner to define optimism from a scientific perspective:  “The reason that we often talk in the research about optimism being more important is that… if you’re optimistic, you’re actually going to try, and you make it more likely that what you want to happen will [occur].”

We also asked Martin Seligman, the author of “Learned Optimism” to give an overview of the findings on optimism and physical health.  The research shows that those who are optimistic have “much better” cardiovascular health than pessimists, with 1/4 the rate of cardiac deaths as the rest of the population.

Want to see optimism in practice?  Then check out this great video from the people at The Foundation for a Better Life.

This video spot is from The Foundation For a Better Life.

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