Recent research has been finding more and more evidence on the health benefits of optimism and positivity. Since positive thinkers generally cope better with stressful situations, the harmful effects of stress are diminished more quickly, in turn, lead healthier lives. People often disregard frequent headaches, insomnia, or increased fatigue as merely products of every day life, when all these things can be directly related to increased stress levels.
This is generally easier said than done, but there are a few tips and tricks that you can keep in mind when trying to over come negativity in your life.
- Focus on the positive; rather than dwelling or accepting negative situations beyond control, optimists generally focus on what they can do to overcome the situation – even with the most drastic of life changes. Taking control of your life in small, yet meaningful, ways can produce a larger overall effect, and help you to control the negativity in your life. The key to taking care of stress is to believe that you can, in the very least, change your attitude towards the situation at hand.
- Remember the correlation between attitude and life events; there have been numerous studies focused on the way in which a person explains bad events occurring around them.
- Understand the negative effects of pessimism; pessimism in early adulthood was found to be directly related to increased health problems in mid to late adulthood. Pessimism can be a result of stress, as those lacking in positivity generally have a harder time dealing with stressful situations. Stress, when left to fester, can cause great damage later in life; it produces the dangerous hormone cortisol, and the increased level of this hormone increases the risk of lower immune function and bone density, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and even diabetes.
- Know how positivity can change you; beyond relieving stress, positive thinking can make a person more resilient, both mentally and physically.
In terms of positivity lending to physical resilience, my father is living proof. Frightened as a little boy, I saw my father take medicine intravenously nearly every day of my childhood. Not until much later in life did I find out what he was treating. My father had always been sick—never fully crippled by his illness, but always at a disadvantage. He was diagnosed with Hepatitis C at age 30, a disease doctors said was ultimately incurable.
He never complained or even really spoke about it to those who knew him well, and the only reason I knew was because I saw him take his medicine at our house. With a good spirit, he put me at ease by telling me how the medicine would someday cure him and sure enough, 40 years later, my father is alive, well, and hepatitis free.
A lot of people aren’t fortunate enough to be completely cured and if anyone asks him how he did it, he always says it was his ability to envision himself one-day healthy again. With so many benefits of staying positive, I’m sure you won’t mind me telling you to look on the bright side.
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