Can positive emotions save money on medical bills?
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Can positive emotions save you money on your medical bills? Of course you like feeling positive emotions. You would rather be:
- Happy not sad
- Joyful not depressed
- Peaceful not angry
- Loving not hating
Nobody wants to be in a negative down mood. But how do negative emotions affect your health?
Data collected from the Gallup World Poll using 150,000 individuals from over 140 countries has been used for new research. During the survey, the participants were asked to describe the emotions they experienced most often, both negative and positive.
Then, the people were asked to give details of their medical conditions, as well as other background socio-economic data. Investigators also wanted to know if the individuals had their basic necessities met, such as having somewhere to live and enough food to eat every day.
The amazing conclusion of the paper shows that people who remain optimistic tend to be in better health than pessimists, even if they are deprived of some of life’s basic commodities. This shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that good mood and happy thoughts are linked to a person’s overall state of health, even though experts couldn’t say exactly how that is accomplished.
A positive outlook on life could be as important a factor for promoting good health as diet and exercise.
Positive Psychology looks at the ingredients to make a person happy. You can start your positive self development journey by downloading the free ebook – Designing a Positive Happy Life.
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I think you might have to tell people how to stay positive when they have serious pressing problems. IF you see a car coming head on towards you it is not the time to be optimistic. It is time to act.
People fret because they can’t see what to do about pressing problems. Telling them there is nothing that can be done makes them more anxious.
To some extent, people bargain – saying I won’t get started unless a positive outcome is given. They are also being realistic. They must save their energies for something that might succeed.
Positive psychologists tend to be earning good salaries in university. They have threats and vulnerabilities to be sure. But they don’t experience on a daily basis the sheer terror and frustration felt by huge swathes of the population.
To be clear, I subscribe to the principles of positive psychology. And the principles don’t reject concepts of self-efficacy, social support, pathways to hope. It nonetheless needs to be rewritten going forwards. What to do when you are in the jam.
The evidence you cite is more useful for the government. The NHS bill will go down if people can see ahead. It’s a matter of perspective and audience. We aren’t academic journals looking for patterns. We are people trying to figure out what to do next
your mind can do wonders
This post only tells a fraction of the story. I never advocate that there is nothing to do. Far from it. The philosophy of Positive Self Development is about how you take control of your life and make positive changes.
I agree that there are times in life when the problems are so acute that being optimistic is difficult. But there are choices in ways that you deal with situations and some of these choices are more positive than others. In the example of a car heading towards you, freezing in fear is a negative response. Running out of the way is a positive response.
The mind/body connection is very powerful. I heard a story of a man who panicked after being locked inside a refrigerator car and ended up freezing to death. The refridgerator wasn’t even turned on.