6 Ways Pessimism Can Affect your Health
Photo Courtesy: JoePenna
Do you let things get you down? Are you ever ready to accept that the glass is half empty rather than half full? Your pessimistic outlook isn’t just some harmless perspective relegated to the realm of thoughts. It can have a realistic and tangible effect on your health. If you didn’t think so before, you better think again. Here are six ways that pessimism can affect your health.
1. It’s the biggest stress party you can invite
When you allow yourself to get down in the dumps, you are stressing about things ranging from working in the office to the friends you are meeting Saturday night. You may even underperform on tasks at hand and worry not just about the quality of your work but also the results they produce. Because you believe things aren’t going to happen the right way for you, you automatically stress. This can cause headaches, fatigue, weakness, high cholesterol levels and even high blood pressure. Stress is a party you shouldn’t be attending!
2. It’s no longer ‘Happy Days’
Continual pessimism can lead to mild or severe depression. When you only see the negative side of things, it’s easy to feel like the whole world has let you down. Friends, lovers, co-workers, business meetings and even something as simple as trying to open a can of beans can bring you down. While in some cases, you may you use family or friends to cope with depression, clinical depression requires the attention of therapy and medication. Instead of walking down that lonely road, embrace positive thoughts now!
3. Your heart doesn’t like it
Negative thoughts may begin in the mind, but they travel all the way to your heart. If you continue to be pessimistic, you may be putting yourself at the risk of heart disease. Men and women are both susceptible to it, though the risk is higher in post-menopausal women. Remember a happy mind yields a happy heart, so push all that pessimism away.
4. It can make you overweight
What’s the connection between pessimism and being overweight? Is there even one? When your negative attitude brings the clouds down, you are prone to turning to comfort foods and overeating. At the same time, your pessimism can make you lose your drive to be in good shape. Excessive eating with no exercise can make you overweight and complicate your health issues.
5. It can affect recovery time
Studies have shown that pessimism can be dangerous for patients in high-risk pregnancies and negatively impact recovery time in by-pass surgeries as well as drug addiction treatments. Your dark thoughts could end up stealing your precious thoughts and your health!
6. It can reduce your life span
If all that you’ve read isn’t enough, then knowing that the time you have on earth might be cut short is the call you need to wake up. People who are optimistic are less likely to develop medical conditions and stay in good health well into their old age. On the other hand, pessimism has been linked with a higher death rate. You can choose to live now from this very moment by simply kissing pessimism away.
