Optimism_and_Health

Optimism has been long been thought to have a positive effect on a persons physical and psychological health. Cancer patient’s families sometimes do not agree with the doctor giving an allotted time for life expectancy, because they feel like they are telling the patient to give up, when in some cases the will to survive outlasted the sickness, and the patient lived a long time after the death date given. Humans tend to be optimistic creatures especially when it comes to the successfulness of live, and acquiring any sort of major health issue. One way to test these theories is for scientists to conduct researches. In order to conduct research, scientists have to come up with a way to measure optimism. There are two methods of measuring optimism; the first is dispositional optimism and the next is explanatory style. (Harvard Men's Health Watch.2008). Dispositional optimism is based on a person’s outlook or forecast for their lives. Explanatory optimism is based on how a person explains good and bad news. According to Deslyva and Korn, singer and song writer, a heart full of joy and gladness can banish trouble and strife. (Harvard Men's Health Watch.2008). Now, scientists are agreeing that optimism is good for the heart. In one research doctors took 309 patients that were about to undergo major heart surgery of the same kind. They had each patient psychologically tested for optimistic and pessimistic explanatory style, as well as tested for physical conditions such as obesity, high cholesterol, smoking and a history of heart disease. After six months of tracking each person, the researchers discovered that the optimists were only half as likely to return to the hospital as the pessimists were. A similar study showed that pessimists were three times as likely to have heart attacks as an optimist is. In another study conducted on 2,564 men and women over the age of 65, researchers found that optimism had direct correlation with lower blood pressure. The patients were measured for height, weight, marital status, drug and alcohol abuse, diabetes and medications. Even after everything was taken into consideration the researchers still felt that people with the highest levels of optimism, had the lowest blood pressure levels. Not only is optimism good for blood pressure and the heart, but also on overall health. A study conducted over a 2 year span on optimism and overall health, resulted in positive people enjoying life and putting effort toward staying healthy a lot more often then their pessimistic peers. Another study done over a 30 year period showed that optimism was linked to eight different levels of physical health. The above researchers have shown that optimism is linked to physical health, but it has also been linked with psychological well being too. Another 30 year study, done in the 1960’s, supported the link between optimism and mental health by testing a group of people to see if they were optimistic or pessimistic and then retesting later on in life. The results showed that the morality rate rose about 19% for every 10 point increase on the pessimistic test. Optimists have greater persistence and strive for a successful life without giving up as easy as a pessimist. In a study done on people with depression, half of the group went to cognitive therapy where they were taught to think positively and the other half was given commonly known depression medications. The result was that the individuals that had the therapy were able to use it as a longer lasting fix to their problems and were also able to handle future setbacks more effectively. All studies included the outcome is that optimism is linked with good health. Some people can state that a person who is in good health could be more optimistic about life then someone who has a disease or health issues. However, the studies above go in depth about how they take pre-existing medical conditions into consideration when gathering data and all of that is accounted for. The author feels that the research is valid based on the fact that many different studies were conducted using many different people with many different back grounds and medical histories, and the end result coming up the same. Reference Harvard Men's Health Watch.2008. Optimism and your health. Retrieved on January 24, 2010. From http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail'vid=6&hid=3&sid=cc03412e-f0f6- 6fe84ef1ca90%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d #db=f5h&AN=31761983#db=f5h&AN=31761983.