Optimism_and_Health

| Optimism and Health | | | LaTisha M. Green | PSY/220Russell Goodwin03/18/2013 | | The research on optimism and how it can affect your psychological and physical well-being is a well-known. We all know that having an optimistic outlook on life have been shown to help reduce depression. Also it has also been proven that having a positive attitude after a major surgery makes your recovery process even better. We have always been told that having and maintaining a positive view of life will help you achieve your goals and you will see the powerful benefits of this idea as well. According to the article that I have researched about the effects of optimism on the physical health it suggest that individuals that have an optimistic outlook they tend to take part in healthy actions like not smoking, no drinking, healthy eating, and exercising. Despite that there aren’t a large number of studies that have been published on the relationship between physical health and optimism it is still as important as optimism and psychological health as well. The studies have found out that commonly believed that optimism is a protective factor with regard to well-being and physical and psychological health. All of these studies have all come to one conclusion and that is when you have a positive and good outlook on the experience you tend to have a good outcome. Being optimistic helps with the healing process and studies have shown that a person with a optimism view tend to think that everything will go his or her way and that even nothing will go wrong with them. This type of behavior can lead to risk like engaging in drinking, unprotected sex, smoking, and not just taking good care of their health and well-being. For myself I know when I have a pessimistic attitude or way of thinking I tend to make hasty decisions and these things can affect my health and psychological well-being. One of the studies was given to men over a period of time was looking at the psychological health of men that had coronary artery bypass surgery. Each one of the subjects was interviewed over a period of three times. The study showed that the subject’s well-being presurgery optimist reported lower levels of hostility and depression than someone who was a pessimist. Also in the week following their surgery they reported that that felt greater satisfaction with the level of medical care that they had been getting and also with the amount of support that they was receiving from friends as well. Also finally they also reported that they had a more favorable quality of life at the time of their 6 month follow-up than someone who was a pessimist. All of these studies that I have seen and read in these reviews have all come up with the same results and that is if you are an optimist you tend to have a better healthy life and also a psychological health as well. Some may also think that all of these studies are suggestive as well and only that. To me these studies I do agree with them because all they are doing is looking at how optimist and pessimists deal with stress in their everyday life experiences that they encounter. Someone who is an optimist to me they only place their best face on the problem that they confront; almost paradoxically, however, they also tend to accept the reality of problems when they have to face them rather than try to wish them away. They also tend to try and face the problem head on and try to come up with different steps to make the situation better for them. A pessimist they are more inclined to engage in a variety of tactics of avoidance coping and they are more likely to give up to moving forward with their goals. In all of the evidence that has been gathered there are still more questions than answers. We do know that optimist and pessimist are different from one another, but there is always more to the picture. Being an optimist does have its rewards on your physical and psychological health. Also being a pessimist may have their downsides as well. References http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2894461/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2894461/