Skip navigation.
Home
Sun Sep 5 22:30:01 2010 | [Write for us] | [Subscribe to RSS] | [Advertise with us] [Editor's Blog]

Positivity linked to longevity of life: a study

Chicago, March 6: According to a recent study a positive influence helps in shaping our lives, adding years to it. Hence, it's time to look at the glass as half full, not half empty.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh reviewed more than 100,000 women over 50 years since 1994. They studied their personality traits, and then tracked their death rate and chronic health conditions for an average of eight years.

They discovered that women with an optimistic approach were 14 percent more likely to be alive and 30 percent less likely to die from a chronic illness as opposed to women who were pessimists. Also women with hostile and cynical characteristics were found to have a higher death rate and a 23 percent greater risk of dying from a cancerdefine-related condition.

Hilary Tindle, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine declared, “Optimistic people have more friends and a larger social network on which they can rely during crises; they also tend to cope better on their own with stress, a risk factor that has been associated with high blood pressure, heart disease and early death in previous studies.”

Unsure Tindle questioned, "What is the link? What is the mechanism? That's one thing my study can't answer."

The researchers admitted that it was a trifle difficult to predict if optimism was in itself responsible for stress resistance and reduction of health problems or whether optimism led to a healthier lifestyle. Or maybe it was heady combination of both.

Medical research has shown that positive people have an unusual good health and they age well. Their bodies appear to have a much higher stamina level and a better ability to fight disease. They usually live longer than the people who allow their lives to be lead by negativity. Of course, it is important to live a positive life, because it is so much more fulfilling. Optimism is synonymous with positive mood and good morale.

According to Tindle, previous research also hinted that a positive attitude was closely related to a healthier "risk profile."

She added that optimistic people, "They are less likely to smoke, they are more likely to be active and they are more likely to have a lower BMI [body mass indexdefine]. All of these are risk factors that certainly matter for length of life and health."

The findings were reported at the American Psychosomatic Society's annual meeting Thursday.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
 
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Glossary terms will be automatically marked with links to their descriptions. If there are certain phrases or sections of text that should be excluded from glossary marking and linking, use the special markup, [no-glossary] ... [/no-glossary]. Additionally, these HTML elements will not be scanned: a, abbr, acronym, code, pre.

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
For daily updates in your mailbox Subscribe for free via email, or grab our feed.
 

User login

TheMedGuru on Facebook

Latest Classified Ads

 
I n   F o c u s
Grapes are a storehouse of certain vital nutrients that can help you shoo off many life-threatening diseases.
Grapes.jpg

Originally a Mediterranean fruit, grapes are rich in potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium, flavonoids, antioxidants, and of course, taste. The richer the purplish colour, the better it tends to be.

    While caring for your baby’s skin, you should be guided by the dictum ‘less is more’. Themedguru helps you understand the intricacies involved in baby skin care.
    baby skin.jpg

    A baby's skin is extremely delicate, making skin care both imperative and challenging. This ritual, however, is just as important as keeping her well nourished and creating a congenial environment for her.

      The influence of antioxidants in reversing the process of ageing and preventing diseases has been known for ages. Here are five miraculous antioxidants.
      eating-broccoli.jpg

      Antioxidants are the new fad of the millennium, due to their hostility towards the highly harmful free radicals. They are known for cleaning-up free radicals before the latter can cause any bodily harm.

        R E S O U R C E S I N D US T R Y   N E W S M Y   H E A L T H

        Glossary

        Events & Conferences

        Healthcare Classifieds

        Hospitals Directory

        Forums