A new report from researchers at Harvard Medical School suggest that optimism, happiness and positivity could help decrease the risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular events. They published their findings in the April 16 edition of the journal Psychological Bulletin.
The study's lead researcher Julia Boehm and her team reviewed data from 200 different studies finding that those who reported the most positive feelings were at a significantly decreased risk for cardiovascular threats. They also found positivity seemed to help ward off heart disease.
"Factors such as optimism, life satisfaction, and happiness are associated with reduced risk of CVD regardless of such factors as a person's age, socioeconomic status, smoking status, or body weight," Boehm says in her report.
"For example, the most optimistic individuals had an approximately 50 percent reduced risk of experiencing an initial cardiovascular event compared to their less optimistic peers," she added.
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