Do emotions and optimism really matter in relation to heart health? Two new studies provide some of the strongest evidence yet that both positive emotions and an optimistic attitude significantly reduce one’s risk of heart disease.
Researchers at Columbia University studied more than 1,600 healthy men and women who were enrolled in a long-term Canadian health study. The subjects were evaluated using standard scales to measure anxiety, hostility, and depression. Then researchers watched videotaped interviews to measure the positive emotions expressed by the study participants. A lot of other data were collected, too, including blood pressure, cholesterol levels, smoking status, and whether or not the participants had diabetes.
During the 10 years the study subjects were followed, 129 heart disease incidents occurred (121 nonfatal and 8 fatal). Of these 8% of study subjects who developed heart problems, those who expressed positive emotions more often were less likely to have a cardiac event, and those who experienced depression were more likely to have an event. This was true even after adjusting for various factors (such as age, sex, and standard risk factors). Hostility and anxiety did not predict coronary heart disease events.
The second study involved an even larger group of randomly selected men and women (2,380) and assessed individual levels of optimism. (It’s surprising how many tools are available to measure emotions and traits such as optimism.)
None of the study participants had coronary heart disease at baseline and, again, they were followed for 10 years, during which time 274 coronary events occurred, representing 11.5% of subjects. Those participants considered highly optimistic were less likely to have a coronary heart disease event during the study period compared to those with average and low levels of optimism. Again, after adjusting for important variables that could influence the outcome, level of optimism remained a significant factor influencing cardiac risk. There was a consistent effect, too, with low optimism showing the highest risk, average optimism showing average risk, and the most optimistic showing the least risk of a coronary heart disease event.
Most people interested in medicine want to know the mechanism; in this case, what explains the protective effect of positive emotions and optimism? There could be direct influences on physiology. For example, depression is known to have a variety of bad effects on the heart and vascular system. Or the explanation could be indirect via the influencing of health behavior, such as smoking. Maybe optimists just don’t feel the need to ever pick up a cigarette.
Whatever the explanation, it is good to see two studies with long-term follow-up in good-sized populations of patients. Many of the previously reported trials have gotten a lot of attention with far fewer people over much shorter periods of time. So, let me ask you: are optimistic about these results?
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