Optimism Yields Heart Health

01/23/2015

In many preschool programs and kindergartens, young children are engaged in filling out worksheets, reading from flash cards, or reciting numbers in rote fashion. But just because young children can do those things, in a normative sense, is not sufficient justification for requiring them to do so.
Lilian G. Katz

"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," reports ScienceDaily.

"'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 researcher 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.'

"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....

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