People with a tendency to experience positive emotions, such as being happy, enthusiastic and contentment, are also less likely to develop heart disease than those who tend not to experience it, suggests a new American study: however the researchers said the findings should be confirmed via clinical trials before making any clinical recommendations.
The study, with an accompanying editorial, is published in the European Heart Journal, and was led by Dr. Karina Davidson, Herbert Irving Associate Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry and Director of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University Medical Center, New York.
Having positive emotions, clinically known as "positive affect," is a state characterized by pleasurable feelings such as joy, enthusiasm, excitement, happiness and contentment.
Negative affect is associated with feelings of anxiety, depression and hostility, and is largely independent of positive affect.
"As far as we know, this is the first prospective study to examine the relationship between clinically-assessed positive affect and heart disease," Davidson told the media.
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She noted that although this was an observational study, the findings were strong enough to suggest that enhancing people's positive emotions may protect them against heart disease, but said we should wait for clinical trial results before reaching this conclusion more firmly.
