COMMENT
DR RADHA MODGIL:
THINKING POSITIVELY CAN BE GOOD FOR YOUR BODY, NOT JUST YOUR BRAIN
Looking for an upside in any given situation can improve everything from the immune system to heart health
Positive thinking sometimes gets a bad reputation. Why? Well, because a lot of people think it is steeped in a denial of reality, and believe it can negatively impact our wellbeing as it does not allow us to process difficult emotions or feelings.
However, positive thinking is not about ignoring reality, but rather choosing to focus on potential solutions, being open to new ways of thinking, and finding something to be hopeful for. It can be a useful strategy for mentally and emotionally dealing with the many uncertainties and challenges of life. Our ability to look for the positives in a situation is known as ‘cognitive reframing’ and trains us to challenge and change our perspective of a scenario. And if you need any more encouragement to give it a go, a growing number of studies have found that positive thinking can benefit our physical health, as well as our mental health.
For example, researchers from Northwestern University in the US have discovered that people who have a positive attitude are less likely to experience memory decline as they get older. As part of a national study, the team monitored adults at certain points over a decade, each time surveying their mood in the previous 30 days, along with their memory recall. They concluded that having a positive attitude was associated with a less steep decline in memory.
It is not just our brains that benefit from positive thinking, but also our cardiovascular systems. Another study, carried out at the University of Illinois, found that adults who were optimistic were more likely to have better cardiovascular health and lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels. A separate study showed that having a positive attitude could reduce the risk of developing heart disease by 30 per cent.
The thinking behind these findings relates to the stress response that we experience when we have negative, fearful or pessimistic emotions. We have naturally evolved to release stress hormones like cortisol when we feel negative emotions, and these chemicals raise our blood pressure and heart rate, causing damage if chronic.
Stress and low mood can also have an impact on the ability of our immune system to function at its optimum level. Researchers at Wisconsin University concluded that activation of certain brain regions associated with negative emotions appears to weaken people’s immune response to the flu vaccine, in the level of antibodies present six months later.
“We have naturally evolved to release stress hormones like cortisol when we feel negative emotions and these chemicals raise our blood pressure and heart rate, causing damage if chronic and long term”
So science is beginning to add weight to the importance of positive thinking on many of our different physiological systems, and this has resulted in positive thinking being studied in relation to increasing our lifespan.
Thinking positively about getting older and a constructive attitude to ageing has been shown to increase the chances of actually living longer too.
We can start to improve our attitude to ageing by recognising that it is inevitable and so we are simply wasting our time by being negative about it, and instead focus this energy on the benefits of ageing, such as more experience and wisdom. We can also cultivate gratitude for living a long life, and foster a determination to remain as fit and healthy as we can. But why does a positive attitude to ageing improve our lifespan? It may be because when we have negative beliefs about ageing, this causes us stress which in turn leads to inflammation.
A study carried out at Yale School of Public Health found that a marker in the blood called C-reactive protein (CRP) increased in response to cumulative stress. The researchers concluded that positive self-perceptions of ageing and longer survival were partially mediated by CRP.
So it appears that positive thinking and trying to reframe our thoughts with a positive mindset doesn’t only lead to health benefits through us making better choices because we are feeling good and motivated, but also because of actual biological mechanisms.
It is not all bad news if you have got into a habit of negative thinking, though. A lot of our thinking is the result of habitual, repetitive processes. We can practise cognitive reframing by understanding our thinking patterns, noticing when they arise and challenging them. When we notice a negative thought, we can then take a step back to see it as harmful, but not judge it, and then take an active decision to choose a different and more positive thought instead.
Knowing this, maybe there is even more reason to practise positive thinking strategies every day. It can be difficult to do, but ultimately it is a habit that we can develop and cement, that will serve us day in, day out.
DR RADHA MODGIL
(@DrRadhaModgil) Radha is an NHS doctor, broadcaster and wellbeing campaigner. She is the medical expert on BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks. Her first book, Know Your Own Power (£14.99, Yellow Kite), is out now.
Listen to Dr Radha Modgil on Life Hacks on BBC Radio 1.