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Being Emo All the Time Is Bad For You

By: Synne D. Chapman with Susannah Sizemore

A series of studies recently featured in the Harvard Men’s Health Watch newsletter substantiates the claim that optimists are generally healthier than pessimists.

The research—which includes long-term studies beginning in the 1960s, and more recent short-term studies—primarily focused on cardiac health, including blood pressure and heart disease. Researchers used a variety of psychological and personality tests to place respondents on a spectrum between optimistic and pessimistic, concluding that in all of the categories examined, people who were deemed to be more optimistic fared better than those deemed to be more pessimistic.

“People who are optimistic have a good outlook on life—they treat themselves better, take better care of themselves, and live longer,” said Harvey B. Simon, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the author of the article profiling the studies. “The bottom line seems to be that people with a bright outlook have better health.”

In one of the studies, researchers infected 193 volunteers with a common respiratory virus. Those that were more positive were less likely to develop viral symptoms than their less optimistic counterparts.

Another study followed 6,959 students from the University of North Carolina for over 40 years. Researchers found the most pessimistic individuals had a 42 percent higher death rate than the most optimistic subjects. Simon said the findings show that there is strong connection between the brain and overall health.

“I think this is just one of many examples of the unity of mind and body, and the fact that the mind is a really, very powerful organ,” he said. Gregory L. Fricchione, a professor of psychiatry at the Medical School, said he agrees with the findings presented in the article.

“The resiliency that we have as human beings, as human organisms, is made up of these components,” he said. “We need nutrition, we need exercise, but we also need healthy minds.”

But despite the findings, Simon said that whether a person is optimistic or pessimistic may be genetic.

“This isn’t just a question of staying cool, or trying to order priorities, those are all useful strategies, but they don’t affect your basic outlook,” he said. “I don’t think there really is any lone way to change one’s disposition.”

Tristan G. Brown ’10 said while he is pessimistic about political issues and global warming, when it comes to personal life he tends to be optimistic, based on some of the studies’ definition of optimism that a person is optimistic if he or she does not assume blame for negative events. “When things go wrong, I blame others,” he joked.

So if some aspects of optimism are attributable to genetics, how can you make the most of the facets of optimism that you can control? The presence of optimism spurs people to take the position of control over life, rather than play the role of victim—and nobody wants to be a victim of their own life. So as far as it depends on you, take life by the horns, start looking up at all the possibilities, rather than down on all of your problems.

Focus on the future. According to an article in Newsweek, one possible explanation for the correlation between good health and optimism is the optimist’s belief in positive outcomes, and thus more careful attention to health. So be sure to take some time in your day to focus on the positive effects of even the little things in your life such as a stress relieving jog in the park after class, trading those French fries for a side of fruit or spending a little extra time studying, instead of worrying. Optimism is about recognizing the possibilities, not the things you may perceive as reality. So instead of shirking the study time because you just KNOW you’re going to fail that test, plan for the most positive outcome and study like it’s going to happen!

Always engage. Sometimes optimistic people are just more fun, and thus more people want to hang with them! Strong relationships and social support are some of the best remedies for debilitating pessimism linked with depression. And although it may be difficult for you to fake optimism, a better option is to throw yourself in the mix with other people. WebMD suggests that when you surround yourself with optimists, it just might rub off on you. Don’t let your pessimism isolate you from people who spread encouragement and energy linked with optimism. Loneliness can incubate the negative ideas and impressions you have about your future but with others, your negativity just might get squelched.

So plan for a glorious future and stick with friends who will lift your attitude about life. Not only will you feel better emotionally, but your physical health may improve as a result.

Source: UWire and StudentStuff staff. Part of this article originally appeared in the Harvard Crimson, the campus newspaper at Harvard University.