How does optimism improve health? So far we have discovered that it helps prevent depression through its effect on certain parts of the brain. Depressed persons have a fatalistic outlook and therefore do not take the necessary steps to adopt a healthy lifestyle or have medical examinations which would identify problems in the early stages of the disease when it would be most successfully treated.

But when health issues arise optimistic patients, even with advanced cancer were reported to live an average of 6 months longer than their pessimistic counterparts in a study reported in the March 2010 edition of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology (JTO). Another study published in the July 2008 Journal of Pain and Symptom Management revealed that optimistic patients had less perceived pain and required less medication than those that were pessimistic.

A positive outlook gives a person an increased desire to be healthy and stay healthy. No wonder the Bible says in 1 John 3:3, “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” This week choose to spend at least 30 minutes thinking on “good things.”