Satisfaction with Life Reduces Risk of Heart Disease
Photo: Getty Images
If such negative psycho-social factors as stress, depression, or anxiety increase your risk of heart disease, then it only stands to reason that the converse is true and removing negative influences - and replacing them with the positive - would decrease your risk of heart disease. While this conclusion may just seem common sense, it’s a question that researchers examined as a part of the Whitehill II study. Researchers found what many of us have suspected all along: happiness and enjoying your life is not only good for the soul – it’s good for your heart as well.
The Whitehill II study, also known as the Health and Stress study began in 1985 in England. Led by Professor Sir Michael Marmot, the purpose of the study was to examine how social class - both present and previous - impact your health and quality of life as you age. Funded by grants from entities such as the National Institute on Aging-NIA, USA, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute-NHLBI, USA, British Heart Foundation-BHF, and the Medical Research Council-MRC, researchers follow a group of more than 10,300 British civil servants consisting of both men and women.
In the current Whitehall II study, researchers examined the role that general happiness and satisfaction with your day-to-day life play on your health as you age. The average age of participants in this study was 49 years old. Researchers asked almost 8,000 participants how happy or satisfied they were with their day-to-day lives. In all, seven life domains were examined: “love relationships, leisure activities, standard of living, job, family, sex, and one’s self.” (Science Daily 1.) Satisfaction was rated on a scale of one to seven with seven being “very satisfied” and one “very dissatisfied.” In addition to rankings for each individual life domain, researchers combined scores for all domains and assigned an overall satisfaction rate for life in general.
Follow-up with participant occurred at approximately six years with an examination of patient records, hospital data, registry links, and medication screenings.
We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
Add a CommentComments
There are no comments yet. Be the first one and get the conversation started!