Stay Positive and Stay Healthy this Winter

I’m becoming increasingly fascinated by the links between our emotional health and our physical health. I’m sure everyone knows these days that the mind affects the body (and vice versa of course) but it’s still amazing how powerful these effects can be.

I thought I’d review a couple of great studies that have scientifically measured the relationship between emotional health and physical health:

1. The first study which is very topical for the start of ‘flu season’ took 334 healthy volunteers and ran them through a battery of tests to assess their tendencies to experience positive emotions or negative emotions. They were then given nasal drops which contained a couple of strains of Rhinovirus (i.e. the common cold virus) and then placed in quarantine and monitored to see if they developed symptoms.  The results showed very clearly that people who reported experiencing more positive emotion were far more likely to be able to resist the infection. In fact, those who ranked in the top third for positive emotions were almost 3 times less likely to get the cold than those in the lowest third.

2. The relationship between emotion and health is even clearer when investigated over a long period of time.  A group of researchers examined questionnaires that had been filled out by 99 Harvard university graduates at age 25. They looked for the ‘explanatory style’ of the participants. Explanatory style is the way that people interpret things that happen to them which can range from highly pessimistic through to highly optimistic.  The participants then had their health regularly monitored by doctors over the next 35 years (up to age 60). The study found that pessimistic explanatory style at age 25 was highly correlated to poor health from age 45 through to 60.

As these studies and many others are now showing our emotional health is one of the most important determinants of our physical health. A couple of questions for you: How is your emotional health at the moment? What sort of emotions are you experiencing on a regular basis? What are some things you could do today to help boost your positive emotions and cut down on negative ones?