A study of 2.000 men and women by the Department of Psychiatry at Pejenska Tavastia Hospital in Finland found that 121 people who died of heart disease saw the world as a "darker" place than other people.
Optimism won't make you healthier or make you live longer, but optimism doesn't cause health problems like pessimism does.
The Finnish study is the first in the world to investigate the association between mortality caused by heart disease and pessimism.
"Pessimism combined with diabetes, hypertension or smoking can be a disastrous combination that causes death. High levels of pessimism can affect heart health, but data on the association of heart disease and mortality with optimism and pessimism are very rare," said Dr. Miko Pankalanen, who led the research.
The researchers reviewed data collected in 2002 as part of the Study on Aging, which involved 2.267 men and women between the ages of 52 and 76. Data were collected on socioeconomic status, lifestyle, blood sugar level, blood pressure and diseases. Then, the level of optimism and pessimism was assessed with a questionnaire, that is, by reacting to three optimistic and three pessimistic statements.
One of the optimistic statements was: "In uncertain times, I generally expect the best." An example of a pessimistic statement was: "If anything can go wrong with me, it will." Respondents had to say to what extent they identified with each statement on a scale from zero (strongly disagree) to four (agree). The researchers found that during the eleven-year follow-up, 121 people who died of heart disease were more pessimistic compared to people who were still alive.
People who were the "most pessimistic" in the group had a 2,2 times greater risk of dying from heart disease. The researchers point out that the study shows that pessimism is not good for health.
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