Positive thinking helps with stress management and can even improve your health

For generations, people have debated whether a glass is half empty or half full. The response that you give often indicates how you see yourself as well as how you see the world. Your perspective, whether it be optimistic or pessimistic, not only influences your mood but also how your body copes with stress, sickness, and daily pressure.

Mental health and behavioral researchers at the Mayo Clinic have discovered that optimism/pessimism is not only a personality trait but is also how an individual copes with adversity in life. In combination with your coping strategies, optimism/pessimism can influence the formation of healthy habits, thus saving you money over the long-term.

When you expect that something will turn out positively, you generally tend to deal with stressful situations more positively. When you anticipate the worst, stress can build up and lead to a lot of negative energy.

Being positive and having hope does not mean ignoring the problems that you are facing. It means choosing your reaction to the problem. Whether it is a flat tire, a long day at work, or a bad argument, those situations have hurtful effects on each of us. How we choose to handle those adverse situations is what separates a hopeful perspective from a hopeless perspective.

The heart of this process of developing a hopeful perspective can be traced to something called self-talk. Self-talk is the stream of silent thoughts that you have throughout the day. Self-talk can be based on reason or fears, or on what you perceive is expected to happen.

Your self-talk can lift you or bring you down to your knees. If your inner thoughts tend to be harsh/negative, your view of life will generally become bleak. Alternatively, if the majority of your thoughts tend to be supportive/balanced, you will typically have increased self-confidence and will feel calmer.

If a person has negative thoughts about themselves, they may think “I always mess up!” after making a small mistake. Alternatively, an optimistic person may think, “Well, that didn’t go as planned, but I can correct it.” Even though both people viewed the same situation, their perspectives on the situation led them down very different paths.

The difference between how the optimistic and the person with negative self-talk view situations is important because stress begins in the mind. Stress occurs when the body responds to what the brain believes to be true. When someone expects bad things, their heart rate increases; their muscles become tense, and their body floods with stress hormones. Conversely, someone who believes in their ability to cope will remain stable; their body won’t have as much fluctuation.

Over time, these fluctuations add up.

There are many health-related benefits attributed to positive thoughts, as evidenced by studies that correlate positive thoughts with longer lives, lower rates of depression, and less day-to-day distress. Most research shows an overall increase in mental health and a reduction of pain among individuals who have a positive outlook on life.

In addition to being linked to mental health, optimism also correlates strongly with physical health. Research shows individuals with positive thoughts are more likely to have better cardiovascular systems (i.e., heart) and die less frequently from cardiovascular problems (heart attack, stroke) than individuals who have negative thoughts about their health. In addition, individuals with a positive outlook on life have a lower incidence of death from disease (e.g., cancer, respiratory disease, infections).

Although there is still much that we do not understand about these relationships, scientists have a good idea about some of them. One major area of study surrounding these relationships is stress. A positive outlook aids individuals in coping with stress. As a result, the wear and tear on the heart, blood vessels, and immune system caused by prolonged exposure to stress has decreased.

Another area of study surrounding positive thoughts is behavior. Optimistic individuals tend to take better care of themselves than those who do not have a positive outlook on their lives. Optimistic individuals engage in more physical activity, consume a healthier diet, and refrain from smoking and alcohol abuse. Positive habits promote emotional, mental and physical well-being.

Negative self-talk typically manifests in recognizable patterns. Filtering is one common pattern that occurs when a person only sees what has gone wrong in a day and overlooks everything that has gone right. Even though you completed an assignment on time and received praise for your work, you may focus on one minor error in your assignment.

Another pattern is personalizing, which refers to the tendency of someone who believes everything is their fault, even if it is outside of their control. For example, if friends call off going out with you, you may determine that your friends didn't want to see you.

Catastrophizing is another negative thought pattern. After experiencing a setback (for example, your latte order was wrong), you may interpret it to mean your entire day is ruined.

Blaming other people for your feelings, telling yourself what you "should do," and making small difficulties into big issues are additional negative thought patterns. Many people develop perfectionistic tendencies, developing standards that are unattainable by anyone, and/or viewing life in black and white terms: there is no grey area.

These habitual thought patterns affect how much stress accrues in your body.

Fortunately, habits of thought (positive or negative) are capable of changing. Mastering positive thought habits can be learned through regular practice.

This begins with awareness. Notice when you start having unkind or hopeless thoughts about yourself. Recognize everything that causes you to think that way, such as work, driving in traffic, or in a relationship.

During the course of your day, periodically check in with yourself and make note of what your thoughts are, and where they originated. If.If you come across negative thoughts, stop and view them from a different perspective. Laughter is also a way to relieve anxiety and change your mood. Sharing laughter with a friend during difficult times lowers anxiety levels and can improve your state of mind.

Our physical state contributes to mental wellness as well. Doing some form of physical activity, such as taking a few short walks throughout the day, is beneficial to improving one's mood and relieving his or her stress. Eating nutritious foods, getting enough quality sleep, and developing simple relaxation techniques all help promote a healthier mental state.

Who you are around also contributes to one's overall mental wellness. Friends who support and build you up will help hold the line for you. Friends who are constantly negative will only drag you down.

When engaging in positive self-talk, there are really only two rules to follow. All positive self-talk must coincide with what you would say to someone you truly care about.

If you catch yourself thinking along the lines of "I have never done anything like this before," you can say to yourself, "This will give me the opportunity to learn." If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed because a task seems too daunting, changing the wording to "this is a new approach that I am taking" can have a positive outcome. When you feel like you are at a standstill, remind yourself that creativity often arises from being put into a situation of "need."

These small shifts in thinking do not imply that there isn't a problem to deal with. It creates a path for you to deal with any issue without the fear of failure.

Over time, with the practice of positive self-talk, your inner voice will be kinder and more stable, and you will judge the world around you less harshly.

The scientific connection between positive self-talk and good health has very important implications. Through the research, researchers have found that how we think and feel about ourselves creates the basis for our overall state of health.

Through continued research on how stress has an impact on the physical body, new findings will also provide a better way to prevent illnesses and assist in recovering from illnesses. Teaching individuals how to recognize and change harmful patterns of thinking may become a part of standard health care, therapy, and school programs.

The information provided by these studies can give individuals practical tools that they can apply in their daily lives now. By learning how to manage self-talk, as well as how to manage one's stress, many will be able to reduce their risk of disease and enhance their lifestyle.

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