The health benefits of a positive attitude
"Stay positive" – it's what we say when life throws a curve ball. But what good will that really do? Well for starters, it might add years to your life.
Just ask anyone who's now working in Positive Health, a developing field that looks at links between psychological wellbeing and physical health. There may be different ways to describe and define 'positivity', but the results seem to be pointing to the same thing: a positive mind equals a healthy body.
One of the latest studies comes from the University of Queensland, showing a positive attitude can improve your immune system and may help you live longer.
The study tested older people's recall of positive versus negative images and found that those who remembered more positive images also had better immune function.
Lead researcher Dr Elise Kalokerinos said a positive attitude played an important role in healthy ageing.
What's also interesting is that older people generally tend to favour more emotionally positive material than negative - a phenomenon that's been termed the ageing positivity effect.
"Despite the fact that people often think of late life as a period of doom and gloom, older people are often more positive than younger people," says Kalokerinos.
"Our research suggests that this focus on the positive may help older people protect their declining health."
And it could be that they've cottoned on to what some of us are still discovering - that positivity, illness and mortality are all linked. That might sound like a given - a natural assumption to make, but science is about facts, and researchers are putting a lot of effort into proving the positivity link.
Evidence has been building
The scope for this research is almost endless. For example, a 2003 study found a link between increased daily doses of positive emotions and not catching a cold.
Researchers have also found that a sunny outlook might increase longevity. One of the most famous studies to make this point was the Nun Study published in 2001.
Researchers looked at the handwritten autobiographies of 180 nuns who joined the School Sisters of Notre Dame congregation in the 1930s and 40s and found a very strong link between positive emotional content in those writings and longevity six decades later. On average, nuns who wrote with more positive emotions lived longer than their less cheery counterparts. At age 85, 90 per cent of the happy nuns were alive, while only 34 per cent of the unhappy nuns were alive. At age 94, 54 per cent of the happy nuns were alive, compared to only 11 per cent of the unhappy nuns.
According to Dr Aaron Jarden, senior lecturer in psychology and researcher at AUT's Human Potential Centre, other studies have linked positivity with up to 11 years' increase in longevity.
He says research is preliminary but the science is good. "Most of the evidence is strong and robust."
Where results have been mixed, it's typically been around the study of 'optimism', which is only one spoke in the big wheel of wellbeing.
"There is a link between optimism and positive emotions or increased wellbeing, but it's only one facet."
He adds that "being optimistic in a health sense is not always good for you - you can delay seeking treatment, for example".
So then, if optimism isn't the measure of 'positivity', what is?
The scope of positivity - let's call it wellbeing
Jarden explains that 'positivity' in the research field means a "positive ratio of positive emotions versus negative emotions".
But even that definition's moved on. Nowadays 'positivity' is interchangeable with 'wellbeing' - both descriptions pointing to a positive state of mind.
"We look at wellbeing as a mix of positive emotions and a cognitive judgement of how well your life is going," says Jarden.
Essentially, that means your wellbeing is the comprehensive summary of your emotional parts, which includes life satisfaction, happiness, meaning and purpose, optimism, self-regulation, engagement in life and having emotional support.
But how does it all link back to our health?
The way your thoughts and emotions translate to better health is a bit like a virtuous circle.
"It's your cognitions or thoughts - they all lead to your emotions. But they're also linked to your behaviours, so if you're thinking positively you'll probably be more active. And if you're more active, you'll probably think more positively," says Jarden.
It's a logical mind-body split: "The body is all about 'eat, move, sleep'. But the mind entices that through those positive thoughts. So you're probably going to move more, make better dietary decisions and sleep better if you're thinking more positively."
The opposite of all that is if you're not eating well, not moving well, and not sleeping well - that will usually result in both poor physical and psychological health.
The very good news is that wellbeing is within our reach - research has gone so far as to even teach us that.
Jarden says around 50 per cent of wellbeing is genetic; 40 per cent is within your control, and 10 per cent is environmental, i.e. the circumstances you find yourself in.
"Most people think their circumstances count for a lot more than that," he notes.
The point to take from all this is that 40 per cent is in our control - factors we can change. Ending on a perfectly positive note, Jarden makes the point, "If you've got control over 40 per cent of your wellbeing, then you can have a big impact on your health outcomes too."
Are you someone who believes in the virtues of positivity? What sort of things do you try to do to cheer yourself up and maintain a positive attitude?
Please let us know in the comments below.
Written by Aileen Nakhle. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.
Related links:
Happiness can help you live longer
5 tips to maintain positive mental health
9 scientific ways to improve the mood of your home