Dr.
Ranit Mishori, MD, MHS, Georgetown University,
Family Medicine, my favorite PARADE Magazine contributor,
gives us yet another excellent article on how to stay
healthy.
Those
familiar with my work know the importance of "resiliency
training" and that is exactly what purposeful
aerobic laughter is. And according to the following
article you don't have to wait until you're sick to
change the way you think. What is the old adage? First
thought, then action, then deed.
Yes,
indeed we can change pessimists into optimists with
just15-minutes a day of laughter without humor. And
we can even raise the bar for people who already exhibit
positive emotions. See our published research in the
Journal of Primary Prevention or here.
Enjoy!!!!!!
Stay
Healthy
Why
Optimism Is
Powerful
Medicine
by
Dr. Ranit Mishori
published:
11/15/2009
I
write a lot of prescriptions—for pills, creams,
and physical therapy. One thing I can’t dictate
a dose of—though I wish I could—is a
positive attitude. I’ve always suspected that
patients who “look on the bright side” tend
to handle medical problems better than others. They
seem quicker to seek help when they need it and more
motivated to follow doctors’ orders. Perhaps
most important, they appear to believe they’re
going to get healthier.
A
recent issue of the journal Circulation provides
hard evidence that optimism and health are connected.
Researchers studied nearly 100,000 women over eight
years, tracking how many heart attacks they suffered
and how long they lived. The conclusion? Optimism
is good for you.
“Optimists
had a 16% lower risk of having heart attacks,” says
the lead author, Dr. Hilary Tindle of the University
of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. And this study,
it turns out, is not the first to link optimism with
better health. A 2004 study of nearly 1000 elderly
Dutch people found a connection between optimism
and a lower risk of death from heart disease. The
reverse seems to hold true, too. Pessimists—who
were followed in a 2000 Mayo Clinic study that looked
at more than 800 patients over 30 years—ran
a 19% higher risk of early death than optimists.
Being
an optimist also has been associated with a healthier
immune system and an ability to better cope with
physical pain. Still other studies have connected
a positive attitude to a quicker recovery from heart
surgery and a reduced likelihood of re-hospitalization,
as well as to a superior ability to handle the emotional
upheaval of life-threatening illnesses like cancer.
“Optimism
and pessimism affect health almost as clearly as
do physical factors,” says Dr. Martin Seligman,
director of the Positive Psychology Center at the
University of Pennsylvania.
What
is it about optimism that seems to allow some people
to live longer, healthier lives?
The
specific mechanism remains unclear, because optimism
takes various forms. For example, some people express
optimism as an “explanatory style” about
life and its challenges, Dr. Tindle explains. An
optimist of this sort will not blame himself for
losing a job, fighting with a spouse, or facing a
serious disease. Instead, he’ll see external
influences at play that may not necessarily ever
happen again.
Optimists
are generally disposed to “positive future
expectations,” Dr. Tindle says. “They
expect good things to happen and work toward them.” So,
upon being diagnosed with, say, diabetes, an optimist
might exhibit a can-do attitude—by exercising,
taking appropriate medications, and giving up cigarettes.
These behaviors, in turn, would likely lower his
chances of heart disease and high blood pressure.
By
contrast, Dr. Seligman says, a pessimist “habitually
views setbacks as permanent, unchangeable, and pervasive.” Pessimists
often feel helpless when things go wrong and tend
to believe that bad luck repeats itself. Such an
attitude can increase stress and contribute to depression.
Are
you an optimist or a pessimist? Most people can identify
themselves as one or the other. But the fact that
you’re naturally a pessimist doesn’t
mean your disposition is unalterable. Pessimists
can be reformed, Dr. Seligman says, by learning new
ways to think. It’s called “ resilience
training,” and, he maintains, those
who take it seriously can become adept at thinking
positively.
The
key is learning to recognize your thought patterns. A
series of tests reveals your individual explanatory
style. Then, by identifying negative patterns of
thinking, you can learn to challenge them and replace
them with positive alternatives.
Don’t
expect instant results, though. Resilience training
usually requires work with an experienced therapist. Still,
Dr. Seligman says, he has seen people who apply themselves “massively
change pessimism into optimism, and do so lastingly.”
Also
recognize that being optimistic does not mean taking
a “don’t worry, be happy” view
of life. In fact, being unreasonably optimistic could
actually work against you. Excessively optimistic
thoughts (“I won’t get infected with
HIV,” “Smoking isn’t going to give
me lung cancer”) obviously are not helpful.
Bad things can—and do—happen to optimists.
But
if you’re constantly in the “glass is
half-empty” camp, it’s not too late to
change. You don’t
have to wait for disease to strike to start looking
at your life in a new way. Will optimism lead
to better health? Perhaps. But it’s also its
own reward. After all, who wouldn’t prefer
to wake up on the right side of the bed every morning?
In
closing here is the link to the original article. Keep
healthy - keep laughing! And remember to use
your laughter-without-humor exercises in the car each
morning on your way to work. It is guaranteed to brighten
your day and raise your optimism.
http://www.parade.com/health/2009/11/15-optimism-powerful-medicine.html
Blessings
do come thourth laughter,
Judy back
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Laughter
is good for the soul and good for business too!
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