Health benefits of positive thinking

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, positive thinking is linked to a wide range of health benefits.

• Better stress management and coping skills
• Enhanced psychological health
• Greater resistance to the common cold
• Increased physical well-being
• Longer life span
• Lower rates of depression
• Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease-related death

One theory is that people who think positively tend to be less affected by stress. Another possibility is that people who think positively tend to live healthier lives in general; they may exercise more, follow a more nutritious diet, and avoid unhealthy behaviours.

Positive thinking plays an important role in positive psychology, a subfield devoted to the study of what makes people happy and fulfilled.

• Positive thinking does not necessarily mean avoiding or ignoring the bad things.
• instead, it involves making...