Optimists are twice as likely to be in ideal cardiovascular health 
 
 CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- People who have upbeat outlooks on life have significantly better cardiovascular health, suggests a new study that examined associations between optimism and heart health in more than 5,100 adults. 
 
 "Individuals with the highest levels of optimism have twice the odds of being in ideal cardiovascular health compared to their more pessimistic counterparts," said lead author Rosalba Hernandez, a professor of social work at the University of Illinois. "This association remains significant, even after adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics and poor mental health." 
 
 Participants' cardiovascular health was assessed using seven metrics: blood pressure, body mass index, fasting plasma glucose and serum cholesterol levels, dietary intake, physical activity and tobacco use - the same metrics used by the American Heart Association to define heart health and being targeted by the AHA in its Life's Simple 7 public awareness campaign. 
 
 In accordance with AHA's heart-health criteria, the researchers allocated 0, 1 or 2 points - representing poor, intermediate and ideal scores, respectively - to participants on each of the seven health metrics, which were then summed to arrive at a total cardiovascular health score. Participants' total health scores ranged from 0 to 14, with a higher total score indicative of better health. 
 
 The participants, who ranged in age from 45-84, also completed surveys that assessed their mental health, levels of optimism, and physical health, based upon self-reported extant medical diagnoses of arthritis, liver and kidney disease. 
 
 Individuals' total health scores increased in tandem with their levels of optimism. People who were the most optimistic were 50 and 76 percent more likely to have total health scores in the intermediate or ideal ranges, respectively. 
 
 The association between optimism and cardiovascular health was even stronger when socio-demographic characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity, income and education status were factored in. People who were the most optimistic were twice as likely to have ideal cardiovascular health, and 55 percent more likely to have a total health score in the intermediate range, the researchers found. 
 
 Optimists had significantly better blood sugar and total cholesterol levels than their counterparts. They also were more physically active, had healthier body mass indexes and were less likely to smoke, according to a paper on the research that appears in the January/February 2015 issue of Health Behavior and Policy Review. 
 
 The findings may be of clinical significance, given that a 2013 study indicated that a one-point increase in an individual's total-health score on the LS7 was associated with an 8 percent reduction in their risk of stroke, Hernandez said. 
 
 "At the population level, even this moderate difference in cardiovascular health translates into a significant reduction in death rates," Hernandez said. "This evidence, which is hypothesized to occur through a biobehavioral mechanism, suggests that prevention strategies that target modification of psychological well-being - e.g., optimism - may be a potential avenue for AHA to reach its goal of improving Americans' cardiovascular health by 20 percent before 2020." 
 
 Believed to be the first study to examine the association of optimism and cardiovascular health in a large, ethnically and racially diverse population, the sample for the current study was 38 percent white, 28 percent African-American, 22 percent Hispanic/Latino and 12 percent Chinese. 
 
 Data for the study were derived from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, an ongoing examination of subclinical cardiovascular disease that includes 6,000 people from six U.S. regions, including Baltimore, Chicago, Forsyth County in North Carolina, and Los Angeles County. 
 
 Begun in July 2000, MESA followed participants for 11 years, collecting data every 18 months to two years. Hernandez, who is an affiliated investigator on MESA, is leading a team in conducting prospective analyses on the associations found between optimism and heart health. 
 
 "We now have available data to examine optimism at baseline and cardiovascular health a decade later," said Hernandez, who expects to have an abstract completed in 2015. 
 
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 Co-authors of the current study were Kiarri N. Kershaw of Northwestern University; Juned Siddique, Honghan Ning and Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, all of Northwestern University; Julia K. Boehm of Chapman University; Laura D. Kubzansky of Harvard University; and Ana Diez-Roux of Drexel University. 
 
 The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Center for Research Resources funded the research. ||||| NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The key to a healthy heart? 
 
 Optimism. 
 
 As 1010 WINS’ Kevin Rincon reported, a study conducted by several universities published in the journal Health, Behavior and Policy Review found that happier people had better heart health by a ratio of 2-to-1. 
 
 Study: Optimistic People Twice As Likely To Have Healthy Hearts Kevin Rincon reports playpause 
 
 “It’s incentive to try to be optimistic, which is oftentimes difficult in the times we live in, in the world we live in and the sad news all the time,” one physician told Rincon. “But if you knew that you could actually save your life, I think that’s a pretty good prescription.” 
 
 The results of the study didn’t change for people who are rich, poor, young, old or even if they had poor mental health. 
 
 “Happier people, they live longer. They feel more fulfilled,” one New York man said. “And people that are sad, they don’t live as long.” 
 
 You May Also Be Interested In These Stories ||||| Women with an optimistic outlook on life may live longer, a new study finds. 
 
 Optimistic women in the study were less likely to die from five major causes of death over an eight-year period than women who were less optimistic, according to the study. 
 
 And although optimism has been linked in earlier studies to healthy behaviors such as eating a healthy diet and getting more exercise, the researchers noted that these behaviors only partially explained the link to a longer life. [7 Things That Will Make You Happy] 
 
 In other words, it's possible that optimism directly impacts our biological systems, Eric Kim, a research fellow in social behavioral sciences at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a co-lead author of the study, said in a statement. 
 
 In the study, which was published online today (Dec. 7) in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the researchers looked at data on women who were enrolled in the ongoing Nurses' Health Study, which began in 1976. Every two years, the women in the study fill out questionnaires about their health. 
 
 The current analysis included data from 70,000 women who had responded to a 2004 questionnaire that assessed their levels of optimism. The average age of the women in 2004 was 70 , according to the study. 
 
 The researchers also obtained information from state records and the National Death Index, along with reports from family members, about the women within this group who had died between 2004 and 2012. Doctors reviewed death certificates to determine the cause of death, and for the five causes, the researchers looked at whether the women's risk of dying from that cause was linked with their levels of optimism. 
 
 The researchers found that the most optimistic women had an overall risk of dying during the study period from any of the five causes of death analyzed that was nearly 30 percent lower than that risk among the least optimistic women. 
 
 Optimism appeared to have the greatest effect on the risk of dying from an infection: The most optimistic women were 52 percent less likely to die from an infection, compared to the least optimistic women. In addition, the most optimistic women were 39 percent less likely to die from stroke, 38 percent less likely to die from heart disease and 38 percent less likely to die from a respiratory disease than the least optimistic women. [The Odds of Dying] 
 
 A smaller effect was observed for cancer deaths, with a 16 percent reduction in risk of dying for the most optimistic women compared to the least optimistic women. 
 
 The researchers noted that this is one of the first studies that identified a link between optimism and the risk of dying from either an infection or a respiratory disease. One plausible hypothesis for optimism's effect on the risk of dying from an infection is that optimism has been associated with better immune system functioning in previous studies. And for respiratory disease, an earlier study found a link between optimism levels and pulmonary function. 
 
 Indeed, previous research has suggested that optimism is associated with a number of aspects of a person's health, according to the study. For example, optimists are more likely to have healthier cholesterol levels and lower levels of inflammation. 
 
 A limitation of the study is the possibility that the findings reflect "reverse causation," or in other words, that women's underlying health conditions could influence how optimistic they are, the researchers wrote. In addition, the links between optimism and infection and respiratory disease "should be interpreted cautiously because of the novelty of the findings," they wrote. 
 
 Originally published on Live Science.
– Feeling gloomy about life, the universe, and everything? Then take note of a new study that links optimism to heart health and a handful of other health positives, EurekAlert reports. Analyzing data on more than 5,100 adults, researchers found that the most optimistic are twice as likely to be "in ideal cardiovascular health compared to their more pessimistic counterparts," says lead author Rosalba Hernandez. "This association remains significant, even after adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics and poor mental health." Optimists were found to have better total cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels, and body-mass indexes, and to get more physical activity. "It's an incentive to try to be optimistic," CBS New York quotes a physician as saying. That's "oftentimes difficult in the times we live in, in the world we live in and the sad news all the time," the physician goes on. "But if you knew that you could actually save your life, I think that’s a pretty good prescription." Published in Health Behavior and Policy Review, the paper looks at 11 years of data on people aged 45 to 84 across six US regions. They were assessed every 18 months to two years by seven health metrics (including blood pressure, BMI, and dietary intake) and filled out surveys about their optimism and physical and mental health. It's likely the first study linking heart health and optimism in the general population, although a 2012 Harvard study did connect overall happiness with cardiovascular health, the New York Times reported at the time. (Another study finds that those who feel younger than their age will live longer.)