Laugh the Day Away

Viewing life's glass as half full may protect older men against coronary heart disease, a new study in the US has shown. Based on a scoring system that characterised the men on a sliding scale from pessimist to optimist, each step up the scale toward optimism decreased the risk of coronary heart disease. The most optimistic men had a risk of heart disease less than half of that of the most pessimistic, according to the study, which is to be published in the November/December issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

Although pessimistic men were more likely to have more than two alcoholic drinks a day and have lower educational attainment, these factors did not account for the difference in heart disease rates. The leading author of the report Laura Kubzanskyhesy commented, 'These data are among the first to demonstrate that a more optimistic perspective actually lowers the risk of heart disease in older men."

The study is based on data from 1,306 men whose average age at enrollment was just over 60 and who were followed for an average of 10 years. The optimistic men were no less likely to die of any cause, than were the pessimistic men in this study, due to the fact that all the men who participated, had ready access to health care, which significantly reduced their risk of dying from heart disease.

The researchers suggest that been optimistic had many protective benefits because it tended to lower stress levels, which in turn decreased the risk of developing heart disease. Also, according to the study, optimists are more likely to engage in health-promoting activities such as not smoking and doing exercise.

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