By Dr. Mercola
Mounting research reveals that you cannot separate your
health from your emotions, and numerous studies support the idea
that having an upbeat and positive perspective can translate
into living a longer healthier life.
For example, in one older study,1
pessimism was linked to a 19 percent higher risk of dying over a
30-year period.
More recently, studies have confirmed the link between
optimism and heart health specifically. One 2011 study2
found that those who reported higher levels of satisfaction in
areas like career, sex life, and family had a reduced risk for
heart disease.
The following year, Harvard researchers reviewed more than
200 studies on this topic, again concluding that people who are
more optimistic and satisfied with life have a reduced risk of
heart disease and stroke.3
These results are discussed in the video above.
Optimism Promotes Heart Health
After examining the associations between optimism and heart
health in more than 5,100 adults of various ethnic groups for 11
years, researchers at the University of Illinois4,5
report that people who display a more optimistic can-do attitude
in life experience significantly better cardiovascular health
over the long term.
People who were the most optimistic were up to 76 percent
more likely to have a total health score in the ideal range. The
health scores were based on seven metrics used by the American
Heart Association (AHA) to define heart health.
This includes blood pressure, body mass index, fasting plasma
glucose, serum cholesterol levels, diet, exercise, and smoking.
According to study author Rosalba Hernandez:
“Individuals with the highest levels of optimism have
twice the odds of being in ideal cardiovascular health
compared to their more pessimistic counterparts. This
association remains significant, even after adjusting for
socio-demographic characteristics and poor mental health...
At the population level, even this moderate
difference in cardiovascular health translates into a
significant reduction in death rates.
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.”
Can You Die from a Broken Heart?
If optimism and happiness can boost your heart health, what
about the more extreme of negative emotions: grief? You
sometimes hear stories of elderly partners dying within weeks,
days, or even hours of each other; or people who suffer deadly
cardiac events following some other severe emotional blow.
But can you really die from a “broken heart?” Researchers say
yes. Losing a significant person in your life raises your risk
of having a heart attack the next day by 21 times, and in the
following week by six times.6
The abrupt increase in risk of cardiovascular events like
heart attack following a heartbreak is thought to be related to
the flood of stress hormones your body is exposed to.
For instance, adrenaline increases your blood pressure and
your heart rate, and it's been suggested that it may lead to
narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to your heart, or
even bind directly to heart cells allowing large amounts of
calcium to enter and render the cells temporarily unable to
function properly.
The risk of a heart attack begins to decline after about a
month, likely because the levels of stress hormones start to
level back out. The loss of a loved one also increases your risk
of stress cardiomyopathy,7
which is sometimes referred to as “broken heart syndrome.”8
The symptoms of stress cardiomyopathy are very similar to
those of a typical heart attack, including chest pain, shortness
of breath, low blood pressure, and even congestive heart
failure. There are some key differences, however.
In broken heart syndrome, the symptoms occur shortly after an
extremely stressful event, such as a death in the family,
serious financial loss, extreme anger, a serious medical
diagnosis, or a car accident or other trauma.
My Personal Challenges with a Broken Heart
Fortunately I have only had to go through acute grieving
once, about 20 years ago when the relationship with the woman I
love ended. The grief and sadness progressed into a full blown
depression; I lost 30 pounds and got down to 150 pounds, which
is really thin for someone nearly 6’2”.
This was the most painful and stressful period of my life and
it took me many months to recover. One of the strategies I used
was to seek to make some good of that terrible situation. I
committed the extra time and energy to creating this newsletter
and that seemed to help not only me but many others.
Even though I was healthy, it was obvious to me how these
changes could seriously harm or even kill you. Fortunately it
all worked out relationally as well as I have been in a
committed relationship with my girlfriend for the last five and
half years.
Now, we know that stress and the subsequent release of stress
hormones can “stun” or “shock” the heart, leading to sudden
weakness of the heart muscle. This condition can be
life-threatening and requires immediate medical attention, but
it’s usually a temporary condition that leaves no permanent
damage.
In most cases a typical heart attack occurs due to blockages
in the coronary arteries that stop blood flow and cause heart
cells to die, leading to irreversible damage. But people with
broken heart syndrome often have normal arteries without
significant blockages. The symptoms occur due to the emotional
stress, so when the stress begins to die down, the heart is able
to recover.
The Science of Happiness
While conventional medicine is still reluctant to admit that
your emotional state has a major impact on your overall health
and longevity, a 2013 article in Scientific American9
discusses a number of interesting advancements in the emerging
field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI).
Researchers are finding that your brain and immune system are
wired together, and portions of your nervous system directly
connect with immune-related organs. Your immune cells also have
receptors for neurotransmitters, which suggest they can be more
or less directly influenced by them.
Researchers have also investigated the genetic
effects of various mental states. For example, in one study,10
chronic loneliness was associated with the up- and
down-regulation of specific genes. Genes involved in the
regulation of inflammatory response were upregulated, while
genes involved with antiviral control were downregulated. The
end result was decreased immune function. In socially active
people, the reverse was true. This was one of the first studies
to link a psychological risk factor with actual changes in gene
expression.
Two Types of Happiness Produce Different Genetic Responses
In another happiness study,11
participants answered questions about the frequency of certain
emotional states, covering two categories or types of happiness
known to psychologists as:
- Hedonic well-being – characterized by happiness gleaned
from pleasurable experiences
- Eudaimonic well-being – happiness that arises from
activities that bring you a greater sense of purpose, life
meaning, or self-actualization
Interestingly, while both are positive emotional states
associated with happiness, the gene expressions they produced
were not identical. Those whose sense of happiness was rooted in
the eudaimonic camp were found to have favorable gene-expression
profiles, while hedonic well-being produced gene profiles
similar to those seen in people experiencing stress due to
adversity.
According to the author, Steve Cole of the Cousins Center,12
the happiness you glean from hollow consumption activities or
pleasurable experiences is very dependent on your circumstances,
which can change quickly and drastically. So when you run into
adversity, you may become quite stressed—for example, if you
can’t afford a certain activity anymore, you feel increasingly
“unhappy.” Eudaimonia on the other hand, in which happiness is
centered around the feeling of life having a greater purpose,
helps buffer against perceived threats and stress, and therefore
tends to have a beneficial impact on your health.
All of us will encounter challenges in our life. That is part
of life. One of the guiding principles that I use to help
address them is seeking to be an inverse paranoid. This approach
was popularized by W. Clement Stone. Admittedly, it isn’t always
easy, but the benefits are profound.
Unlike a conventional paranoid who believes the world is out
to get him, an inverse paranoid believes the opposite: that
every awful tragedy that befalls you ultimately is for some
purpose that will benefit you far more than you can possibly
imagine, even if you are unable to see it at the time. I gave a
personal illustration on my grief experience above which
actually was partially responsible for the creation of this
newsletter. But I have used it many dozens of times since then.
Secrets of Happy People
Being able to manifest positive emotions and happiness is
perhaps one of the greatest gifts you have been given as a human
being. But to some extent, being happy is a choice you
need to make, much like choosing to exercise or eat right.
Happiness comes from within—it’s not meted out by
circumstance alone. This is why, if you truly want to be
happy, you need to work on yourself first. And the health
benefits mentioned above, like a significantly reduced risk of
heart attack and other cardiac events, should provide ample
motivation for doing so.
Interestingly, self-acceptance appears to be one of
the most important factors that can produce a more consistent
sense of happiness. In a survey13
of 5,000 people by the charity Action for Happiness, people were
asked to rate themselves between 1 and 10 on 10 habits that are
scientifically linked to happiness. While all 10 habits were
strongly linked to overall life satisfaction, acceptance
was the strongest predictor. In all, the survey resulted in the
following 10 Keys to Happier Living, which together
spell out the acronym GREAT DREAM:
- Giving: do things for others
- Relating: connect with people
- Exercising: take care of your body
- Appreciating: notice the world around
you
- Trying out: keep learning new things
- Direction: have goals to look forward
to
- Resilience: find ways to bounce back
- Emotion: take a positive approach
- Acceptance: be comfortable with who you
are
- Meaning: be part of something bigger
Another way to think about happiness is to define it as
“whatever gets you excited.” Once you’ve identified that
activity, whatever it is, you can start focusing your mind
around that so you can integrate more of it into your day to day
life. If you need more help to get you started, check out my
previous article,
13 Tips for Living Happy, Wild, and Free.