The Power of Positive Thinking

In this Article (Index)

• What are Postive Emotions?
• Positive Emotions and Health
• Heart Health
• Diabetes
• Weight Loss and positive emotions
• Optimism and Longer Lifespan
• Hope and Curiosity could prevent Diabetes, Hypertension, and Respiratory Tract Infections

What are Positive Emotions?

Positive emotions have been classified into four categories:(1)

1. Joy, or happiness. Which involves being creative and playing.
2. Interest. Is exploring and learning. It involves feeling curiosity, excitement, wonder, passion, enthusiasm, intrigue, and intrinsic motivation.
3. Contentment, or satisfaction. Is self awareness, being calm, it is sitting back and enjoying one's place in the Universe.
4. Love. Combines many emotions; it is based on close relations and a safe context, andit is enjoying those we love.

Different studies have found that experiencing positive emotions makes us healthier, both physically and mentally.

Positive emotions reduce stress, they help us build our personal resources, helping us solve problems and learn (intellectual resources), feel healthy (physical resources), engage in relationships (social resources), and develop our psychological resources (optimism, resilience, purpose).

The Balance between Positive and Negative Emotions

We all experience different emotions, which can be positive (joy, love, satisfaction) or negative (anger, sadness, frustration) depending on the circumstances. We won't always be happy and bustling with positive emotions, because when we face difficult situations, we will feel negative emotions, which will help us deal with the crisis and move on.(2)

The key is to strike a balance between positive and negative feelings.

Being positive opens our minds to exploring new ideas, growing, and learning. They are about dealing with the here and now, and look forward to the future.

The negative feelings, on the other hand, can anchor us in ruminating about the past, worrying, and feeling anxious or depressed. They create stress.

Positive Emotions and Health

Different studies have shown that there is a significant association between positive emotions and good health. This section will explore these findings.

Heart Health

Data from 4,196 participants from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study were followed over 20 years, and their positive emotions were evaluated together with their cardiovascular health (CVH). CVH was assessed using several parameters such as blood pressure, lipids, body mass index (BMI), diabetes, and smoking status.

The study found that "greater baseline positive emotions were associated with better CVH across time... Baseline CVH was also associated with greater average positive emotions across time... Positive emotions' association with CVH was stronger for women than men, but race did not modify associations. Positive emotions in early to middle adulthood were associated with better CVH across several decades. Baseline CVH was also associated with greater positive emotions during follow-up."(3)

Diabetes and positive emotions

Diabetes may cause negative emotions and depression, which in turn play a role on the management of the disease. A study (4) found that "positive emotional health was linked to health-related outcomes and self-management... Positive emotional health may facilitate chronic care self-management and improved health outcomes."

Weight Loss and Positive Emotions

A randomized trial(5) involving 588 overweight and obese subjects, measured weight loss and wellbeing over a period of one year. The initial average weight was 214.1 lbs (97 kg), and after one year the average weight loss was 5.0 lbs (2.27 kg). Weight loss was associated with " higher overall psychological well-being, lower levels of anxiety and depression, and higher positive well being, self control, and vitality... Vitality was found to be the best predictor of weight change at twelve months."

Conclusions. Weight loss was associated with positive changes in psychological well-being. Increased vitality contributed the largest percentage of variance to this change... increased feelings of vitality may boost the ability for future self-control, forming a positive feedback loop for purposeful weight loss. Swencionis C. et al., (2013) (5)

Optimism and Longer Lifespan

In 2019, Lee et al. (6) confirmed what previous studies had found, that more optimistic people are less likely to suffer from chronic diseases, and live longer.

This study found that "optimism is specifically related to 11 to 15% longer life span, on average, and to greater odds of achieving “exceptional longevity,” that is, living to the age of 85 or beyond."

Optimism is a psychological attribute characterized as the general expectation that good things will happen, or the belief that the future will be favorable because one can control important outcomes. Lee et. al (2019) (6)

Hope and Curiosity could prevent Diabetes, Hypertension, and Respiratory Tract Infections

Research published in 2005 (7) analyzed data from 1,041 patients over two years, and reported that for three specific diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, and respiratory tract infections, "higher levels of hope were associated with a decreased likelihood of having or developing a disease. Higher levels of curiosity were also associated with decreased likelihood of hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Results suggest that positive emotion may play a protective role in the development of disease."

Mechanism. How do positive thoughts promote health?

An interesting study by Kok et al. (8) looked into the cardiac vagal tone and its link with health and positive emotions. The vagal tone is regulated by the vagus nerve, which forms part of the parasympathetic system, it regulates heart rate based on emotional imputs (fear, anger, joy). Earlier studies have found that a low vagal tone is associated to higher levels of inflammation and is a predictor of risk for heart attacks, and of a lower survival rate in the event of heart failure.

On the other hand, a higher vagal tone is linked with better abilities to self-regulate emotions, and with positive emotions. "Intriguingly, recent prospective evidence suggests that the causal link between positive emotions and physical health may run in the opposite direction as well: Physical health appears to promote positive emotions... people with higher vagal tone show greater gains over time in their positive emotions."

In this study, an intervention group that used meditation focused on loving and kindness to generate positive emotions, had a higher vagal tone than the control group.

Results suggest that positive emotions, positive social connections, and physical health influence one another in a self-sustaining upward-spiral dynamic. Kok et al., (2013) (8)

Other mechanisms

It is possible that feeling positive acts upon immunity through different pathways: by lowering stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, which lower immune response; by promoting the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins, which help reduce pain, improve mood, and enhance immunity.

Research showed that positive affect, in particular, awe, has anti-inflammatory effects, reducing levels of proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6). Since inflammation is linked to several diseases, it has a health-boosting activity.

Closing Comments

Don't underestimate the power of positive feelings, hope, curiosity, an open mind, and optimism.