Positive attitude helps you keep healthy--study

Findings of the study suggest that having a positive attitude not only keeps one in high spirits but also helps in boosting the immune system, vital for fighting off diseases.

124 students analyzed
To reach this conclusion, a research team from the University of Kentucky analyzed the outlook of 124 first year law students over a year and also tested their immune system strength during that period.

For the study, the students were injected with a harmless dose of dead mumps virus or candida yeast under the skin of their forearm.

This harmless substance triggered an immune response in them, resulting in a small bump at the injection site, reported The Telegraph.

The students were then asked to report how they felt after being injected with the viruses via five questionnaires over the study period.

The researchers also carried out immunity tests to determine the immunity strength by measuring the size of the bumps near the injection site.

Outcome of the study
Analysis revealed that when the optimism levels of the students rose up, they experienced a stronger immune response and when they felt pessimist, it weakened their immune response.

Those who remained positive while experiencing stress of classes, exams reported a stronger immune response on facing an immune challenge.

On the other hand, the pessimists were less likely to show a strong immune response on facing an immune challenge.

Though it remains a mystery what causes such a stronger immune response. But the researchers hypothesized that when people feel optimistic, they feel more of the positive emotions, which accounts partly if not fully for a stronger immune response.

Thus it is very important to have an optimistic attitude in order to stay healthy because a pessimistic attitude is very powerful in making us more likely to fall ill, the researchers concluded.

Lead researcher of the study, Professor Suzanne Segerstrom, a psychologist at the University of Kentucky was quoted by The Daily Mail as saying, “When people were feeling more optimistic, they also had rather stronger responses to an immune challenge.

"To show that a single person - with the same personality and genes - has different immune function when they feel more or less optimistic provides a stronger link between the two than comparing an optimistic with a pessimist.

“I think that when people are feeling optimistic about a specific, important challenge they are facing, they may be less vulnerable to certain health problems, like viral infections.”

The study has been published in the journal Psychological Science.