VN January 2023

Vetnews | January 2023 17 Better Health Studies regularly show that optimists are more likely to maintain better physical health than pessimists, including a 50% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and greater survival rates when fighting cancer. Some studies have also linked a pessimistic explanatory style with higher infectious disease rates, poor health, and earlier mortality. Greater Achievement Psychologist Martin Seligman, the founding father of positive psychology, analyzed sports teams and found that the more optimistic teams created more positive synergy and performed better than the pessimistic ones. Another study showed that pessimistic swimmers who were led to believe they’d done worse than they had were prone to future poor performance. Optimistic swimmers didn’t have this vulnerability. Persistence Optimists don’t give up as easily as pessimists, and they are more likely to achieve success because of it. People with optimistic attitudes are more likely to continue working toward their goals, even facing obstacles, challenges, and setbacks. Such persistence ultimately means that they are more likely to accomplish their goals. Emotional Health Research suggests that cognitive therapy (which involves reframing a person’s thought processes) can be as effective or more effective than antidepressant medications in the treatment of clinical depression. Such improvements also tend to be long-lasting, suggesting that they are more than a temporary fix. People with this optimism training appear to be better able to handle future setbacks effectively. Increased Longevity Optimists lived significantly longer in a retrospective study of 34 healthy Hall of Fame baseball players who played between 1900 and 1950. Other studies have shown that optimistic breast cancer patients had a better quality of life than pessimistic and hopeless patients. Less Stress Optimists also tend to experience less stress than pessimists or realists. Because they believe in themselves and their abilities, they expect good things to happen. They see negative events as minor setbacks to be easily overcome and view positive events as evidence of further good things to come. Believing in themselves, they also take more risks and create more positive events in their lives. Potential Pitfalls Optimism is generally a positive characteristic that confers several physical and mental health benefits. But this does not mean that it doesn’t have a few potential pitfalls. Some ways that optimism can be detrimental include: o Optimism bias : Sometimes, excessive optimism can lead people to overestimate the likelihood that they can experience good things while avoiding bad things. The optimism bias suggests that people often underestimate their risk of experiencing negative outcomes. It can sometimes lead people to engage in risky behaviours that actually increase their chances of having a bad outcome. o Poor risk assessment : When people are overly optimistic about something, they may be less likely to consider all the potential risks and take steps to mitigate those issues. It can ultimately make it more likely that their efforts might fail or run into major problems along the way. o Toxic positivity : Sometimes, people tend to overvalue positive feelings while ignoring or even repressing negative ones. It can also cause people to invalidate the emotional experiences of people who are going through difficult times. Optimists can avoid some of these pitfalls by focusing on maintaining a healthy, realistic approach to positivity. Rather than focusing only on “staying positive” and ignoring other emotions, the goal should be to try to look on the bright side while still acknowledging the difficulties of the situation. Article >>> 18 What Is Optimism<<< 16