Study
says optimism optimizes heart
According to a Reuters article published Monday, optimism is good for the heart.
Titled “Want to live longer? Think
positive thoughts,” the article reported, “The most optimistic among
a group of 545 Dutch men age 64 to 84 had a roughly 50 percent lower risk of
cardiovascular death over 15 years of follow-up, according to the study published
in the Archives of Internal Medicine.”
Isn’t that nice? Hear that guys? Think happy thoughts like Peter Pan told
us and some men may experience lower risks of heart disease.
Sales for feel-good movies like “Rudy,” “E.T.,” “Mr.
Holland’s Opus,” “The Karate Kid” and “Aladdin” will
soon surely be flying off shelves as men frantically buy the DVDs to help them
live longer.
OK, maybe not. But this is still good news.
Reuters also reported, “Previous research has suggested being optimistic
boosts overall physical health and lowers the risk of death from all causes.
A positive attitude also has been shown to help patients who suffer from heart
disease caused by narrowed arteries.”
Of course, optimism alone won’t help men (or women, for that matter) fight
heart disease if men continue to consume too much fast food, get no exercise
and down Budweisers. Men still must maintain healthy standards for healthy living.
Don’t love McDonald’s too much. Exercise. Keep those empty alcohol
calories to a minimum.
But there is a subtle truth beneath this new optimistic report that is worth
elucidating.
In a world where even the medical industry seeks profits, this latest piece of
free advice is a rare example, which, for once, does not serve capitalistic ends.
It does not boost an industry. It does not sell a pill. It does not convince
us to buy something new.
This report is simply promoting a state of mind no money-greedy individuals can
make some Benjamins. It’s a small diamond in the rough to an otherwise
balmy materialistic society driven by money.
Our media promotes so many chemicals and little purple pills to fix our bodies
from conditions once considered incurable. A few pharmaceutical companies are
cashing in off this medicinal goldmine of an industry, all the while thinking
they are being ethical because their product helps people.
Maybe that’s true, but this story is proof that aspects of psychoneuroimmunology,
or how mental health correlates to physical health, are some things no company
can have us buy.
This news is one less little pill that may be inevitably leading us to some Soma
society like in “Brave New World.” It’s something to be, well,
optimistic about.
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