Happiness for Heart Health

I am sure that you have heard it all before.  Lose weight, drink red wine, watch your fat and cholesterol intake, and exercise more…  Doing all of these have been heralded at some time or another as ways to decrease your risk for heart disease, or if you have heart disease, limit the chances of flare-ups of the condition.  Now, a new observational study out of Europe is suggesting that the key to preventing heart disease is being generally happy, positive, and content.  The study, published in Europe’s leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal, is the first to show an independent relationship between happiness and heart disease.

Of course the leaders of the study caution doctors from making clinical recommendations before any clinical trials have been conducted regarding this relationship.  The researchers followed 1739 health adults, 862 of whom were men and 877 whom were women.  All of the individuals were participating in the Nova Scotia Health Study, which started in 1995.  At the beginning of the study, all of the participants were assessed for their risk of heart disease and they measured symptoms of depression, anxiety, anger, and positive emotions based on self-reporting and clinical assessment.  After the researchers took into account cardiovascular risk factors, sex, age, and negative emotions, they found that heightened positive emotions produced a twenty-two percent decrease in the development of heart disease.  The positive emotions were evaluated on a five point scale ranging from 0-none to 5-extreme.  Furthermore, those participants who reported having no positive emotions increased their chances of developing heart attacks or angina.  In fact, these individuals were twenty-two percent more likely to develop a heart condition than those who reported a “little” positive emotion.  The researcher team also found that one of the participants, who was generally positive, had some depressive symptoms during the survey.  However, these depressing moments did not impact his risk of heart disease overall, as he still had a low risk.

The researchers have different beliefs as to why having positive emotions has such a positive impact on heart health.  First, they believe that people who are content are more likely to have longer periods of rest and relaxation, leading to better sleep, which is a factor in a person’s health.  Second, positive individuals may recover more easily from stressful situations, leading to a decrease in hypertension and muscle tension.  There are, however, no concrete reasons as to why being happy supports heart health.

If this observational study can be backed up by clinical trials, people could be easily assessed for positive emotions and therapies could be developed and suggested as to how to improve them and prevent heart disease.  There are already some ways that you can improve your outlook to be more content, such as taking time out every single day to do something that you enjoy.  Whether it is reading a book, shopping, getting a massage, or playing golf, taking time for yourself will most certainly help your mental health, and according to this study, even your heart health.