By Rev.
Ken Blank and Dr. John Campbell – Oklahoma Health Center Clinical Pastoral
Education Institute, Inc. Ó 2006
Randy Eichner writes a column entitled A
Healthy You. In the March 8, 2006, column, he wrote about the topic
of “Cheery Disposition Good For Health, Study Says”.
Mr. Eichner cited a Dutch study of 545 senior men,
ages 64 to 84 at the beginning of the study, who filled out questionnaires
to determine their level of optimism. Fifteen years later, two-thirds of the
men had died with about half of those deaths attributed to cardiovascular
deaths. The statistics were calculated and the figure emerged that those men
most optimistic at the beginning of the study had only half the risk of dying
of heart disease.
What is it that may be “protective” about optimism
against heart disease? The researchers put forth their view that optimists may
have better heart health because they were better at coping, self-care, or
“vitality”. Optimists were better at seeking social support, complying
with medication treatments, and exercised regularly.
Mr. Eichner asserted that the Dutch study agreed with
other studies he previously described, including one of 660 seniors in Ohio
where participants with the most positive views of aging lived about eight
years longer, on average, than those who did not. He noted the Mayo
Clinic study with 800 medical patients, given a personality test at the
outset of the study and tracked for thirty years, showing that the pessimists
were 19% more likely to die prematurely.
Dr. Harold Koenig, M.D., a psychiatrist at the Duke
University College of Medicine and a researcher in the relationship between
spirituality and medicine, puts forth evidence from many studies in his book The
Link Between Religion and Health: Psychoneuroimmunology and the Faith Factor,
co-authored with Harvey Jay Cohen, that religious involvement and
increased physical well-being may go hand-in-hand through improved immunity,
among other causes.
Simple optimism is not necessarily equated with a
religious outlook; Mr. Eichner does not detail whether the studies he quoted
draw a relationship between optimism and religion. Dr. Koenig, however, does
cite the role that positive religious beliefs have in improving health.
Mr. Eichner adds other possible reasons for why
optimists live longer: optimists heed medical advice and maintain healthier habits
such as eating healthy, staying lean, not drinking to excess, and not smoking.
Finally, he says that genes play a role in optimism: an identical twin
study found that twins match closely for adult happiness whether they were
raised together or apart, suggesting an emotional “set point”. Yet, Mr. Eichner
holds out hope for those even with not-so-optimistic genes…other experts
claim that people can learn to be happier and more optimistic. Cessation
of negative self-talk, seeking positives, associating with upbeat friends,
savoring life’s joys, defusing stress, fixing what you can and accepting what
you can’t fix, taking refuge in family and friends, and counting blessings are
ways he suggests.
Dr. Koenig would add that becoming more religious
and practicing and learning religious ways have shown strong evidence of
life-promoting behaviors as well!
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