Another very detailed study from Harvard analysed data between 2004 to 2012 from 70,000 women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study, a long-running study tracking women’s health via surveys every two years. The study looked at the participant’s levels of optimism and other factors that might play a role in how optimism may affect mortality risk, such as race, high blood pressure, diet and physical activity. 

They found that amongst the 70,000 women, the ones that were more optimistic had a significantly reduced risk of dying from several major causes of death over an eight year period compared to the women who were less optimistic. 

 “The most optimistic women (the top quartile) had a nearly 30% lower risk of dying from any of the diseases analysed in the study compared with the least optimistic (the bottom quartile)”  The most optimistic women had a 16% lower risk of dying from cancer, 38% lower risk of dying from heart disease, 39% lower risk of dying from a stroke and 52% lower risk of dying from infection. 

In this positive thinking study, published in March 2016 in the Journal of Behavior Research and Therapy, researchers from Kings College in London tested 102 subjects diagnosed with anxiety disorder.

They asked one group to visualize an image of a positive outcome to each of the three worries they’d had in the past week, another group to think of verbal positive outcomes and the last group to visualize any positive image whenever they started to worry.  The two groups that visualized a positive image, whether it related to a specific worry or not reported greater happiness, restfulness and decreased anxiety.

Researchers, led by Dr. Segerstrom at the University of Kentucky, analyzed over 300 separate studies in the previous 30 years within the psychological community of the effects of stress on humans and concluded that when people face a stressful situation, they get a burst of adrenaline that boosts their immune system and helps them to better deal with the immediate situation. But, over time, if they continue to stress about an event, their immune systems break down, causing illness, depression and anxiety disorder. If you can’t change your situation, change your thinking about it.

The Mayo Clinic published some findings in February 2017 with some 4,500 physicians, scientists and researchers sharing their expertise along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff. They sited The Health Benefits of Positive Thinking and listed what they believed were the benefits that Positive Thinking may provide.

They were:

1. Increased Life Span.

2. Lower Rates of Depression.

3. Lower Rates of Distress.

4. Greater Resistance to the Common Cold.

5. Better Psychological and Physical Well-being.

6. Better Cardiovascular Health and Reduced Risk of Death from Cardiovascular Disease

7. Better Coping Skills During Hardships and Times of Stress.