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Is there a link between how we think and how we feel? Does a positive attitude pay off in healing and better health outcomes?
Depends on who you ask. In an op-ed column in last Tuesday’s New York Times, Richard Sloan, a professor at Columbia University Medical School, argued in the negative. He doesn’t believe the data supports the notion that there is a causative relationship between a good attitude and good health.
The primary concern behind Sloan’s article is valid: If a person’s mind has power over the body then wouldn’t it stand to reason that he or she is in part blameworthy for their physical ails? Sloan argues that it is cruel and unfair to hold a sick person accountable on those grounds and I totally agree. My wife has lupus and it is very hurtful when people seem to think that if only she had a more optimistic outlook she would get better. It is hard to be positive when you’re sick. Some days you are just completely bummed out.
To Sloan’s other point I have to take exception. I think the jury is still out on whether a person’s thinking can directly impact health and healing. We may never be able to prove this. Still, in a more general way it makes sense that optimism is a key advantage in keeping or regaining your health. A positive person is more likely to eat right, exercise, take medicine, get rest and follow through on physical therapy. These things are good for her, she believes in them, she does them. Her health is more likely to improve than the negative, fatalistic patient who is probably less motivated toward positive behaviors that improve health.
Some of the most inspirational stories Guideposts has ever published are about amazing journeys in healing, where faith, prayer and a strong spirit play crucial roles. Some people get better because of a miracle. For most, though, they recovered because they took on the battle with an optimistic view. I can’t see where not believing helps you as much as believing.
What do you think? Is a positive attitude good for your health? Post below.
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Edward Grinnan is Editor-in-Chief and Vice President of Guideposts Publications. Edward lives in New York City with two blondes—his wife, Julee, and Golden Retriever, Millie, who has been featured in his blog and popular videos. Edward loves cycling, hiking with Millie at his house in the Berkshire Hills and Wolverines that hail from Michigan.
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Sloan may have research behind him, but I notice that he doesn't clarify what it is. However, one peer-reviewed stud after another connects positive attitude to prevention of the common cold, speedy post-op recovery, and--time and again--to longevity, both among the ill and the well. Take a look at what scientists themselves are discovering--it's fascinating--at "'Don't Worry, Be Happy'--And You Just Might Live a Longer and Better Life: A Positive Outlook's Effect on Health", http://wp.me/p22afJ-R1. It's truly astounding--and, yes, one will always die in the end. It's the way of the world. But the path to that death might very well be longer and easier if your attitude is better.
Tricky question to try to answer. While genetics, lifestyle, and a host of other factors play a part in illness, I can see the value of optimism in increasing health, happiness, and longevity. I think we need to be able to assess situations accurately (whatever the diagnosis), but having a can-do attitude in surmounting challenges can be helpful...better than just succumbing to them, right?
Tricky question to try to answer. While genetics, lifestyle, and a host of other factors play a part in illness, I can see the value of optimism in increasing health, happiness, and longevity. I think we need to be able to assess situations accurately (whatever the diagnosis), but having a can-do attitude in surmounting challenges can be helpful. It's better than just succumbing to them, right?
I certainly didn't have a positive outlook when I was diagnosed with neck cancer three years ago. All I knew was that I had six weeks of therapy to endure. I didn't care what kind it was, what caused it, I didn't wonder if I had done anything to deserve it, I didn't ask God why, didn't blame Him, I just wanted to get through those six weeks. Now, I'm a born again, Spirit filled child of God, and I believe there is a level of spiritual maturity of faith for complete healing, but I wasn't there-yet. What I did have faith in was that the therapy would do what it was divinely designed to do. Those six weeks-plus were horrendous. I liked my relationship with God during that time to the temple in 2 Chronicles 29. I was in a dark, cold place yet there were the faithful who kept a light of prayer and encouragement lit, when I was too weak and sick to even get out of bed. What I gleaned from my experience is being able to say to another person who's just been diagnosed with cancer, "I know how you feel." My keynote Scripture has become 2 Corinthians 1:4, we comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received,(paraphrased). It's awesome to be on top of the mountain praising God, but I have to descend down into the valley and come along side that one who is going through what I've just endured. That's what I've been entrusted with. So to a certain extent, it is your attitude and how you receive adversity, but even more important is how you've turned what the enemy meant for harm into good. Lydia
I, too, have systemic lupus and other autoimmue conditions.
I think that a positive outlook can be very helpful in all
cases!!!
That goes for anything in life...!! We all have days we don't want to talk about how we feel!!!
I think that it will be better if we look at life on the
bright side!!! We will feel better!!! Just a thought!!!
I, too, have systemic lupus. I also have metastatic breast cancer. While I feel that a positive outlook can help the amount of effort available to tackle a disease process, I don't believe that a positive outlook is all that it takes.
I also feel that pointing to people with a positive outlook who are doing well, has a damaging effect on those who are not doing well. If you can give credit for the outcome, you can also lay blame.
The obituaries are full of people who had a positive outlook. Physical death is always our ultimate outcome. Bad things happen to good people and bad people, no matter what their outlook.
That doesn't mean having a positive outlook is a bad thing. It just means that it won't affect one's eventual and certain end.
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