Optimism May Decrease Risk Of Various Diseases, Study Suggests.

revealed a “significant association between increasing levels of optimism and decreasing risks of death from cancer, heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and infections.” The Times reports, “the associations were particularly strong for cardiovascular disease,” adding that those “in the quarter with the highest optimism scores had a nearly 40 percent lower risk for heart disease and stroke than those in the lowest quarter.” On its website, CBS News (12/7, Welch) reports researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health “analyzed data...from 2004 to 2012 on 70,000 women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study, a long-running research project tracking women’s health via surveys every two years.” Researchers concluded that the correlation between optimism and a longer life was the result of optimistic people tending to have healthier behaviors, better diets and better sleeping patterns, among other factors. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/well/mind/stay-optimistic-live-longer.html While the study is observational and cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship between optimism and a longer life, the researchers have some theories for what might be behind the connection. “It’s a combination,” Hagan said. “If you’re more optimistic, you tend to have healthier behaviors. Optimistic people are likely to have better diets, they’re exercising more, and they’re getting better sleep.” However, even after the researchers accounted for these factors, the results still suggest that optimism itself is linked to a longer life. “So it could be that optimism directly impacts our biological functioning,” Hagan said. “Optimism is linked with lower inflammation and healthier biomarker levels and lipid levels, so there could be an independent effect on optimism.”