By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    bowl of vegetable salad
    Raw Foods: benefits and harms
    November 9, 2021
    pros and cons of the keto diet
    Read This Before You Follow the Keto Diet
    May 18, 2022
    spinal cord injuries
    4 Potential Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries (and How to Seek Compensation)
    May 25, 2022
    Latest News
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
    The Wide-Ranging Benefits of Magnesium Supplements
    June 11, 2025
    The Best Home Remedies for Migraines
    June 5, 2025
    The Hidden Impact Of Stress On Your Body’s Alignment And Balance
    May 22, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    The key stakeholders involved in improving healthcare policy
    The Key Stakeholders involved in Improving Healthcare Policy
    October 26, 2023
    medical erros avoid
    How to Report Medication Errors and Why It’s Important
    November 17, 2024
    Essential Steps for Developing a Life Care Plan
    Essential Steps for Developing a Life Care Plan
    December 26, 2024
    Latest News
    Top HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps for Healthcare Teams
    June 25, 2025
    When Healthcare Ends, the Legal Process Begins: What Families Should Know About Probate and Medical Estates
    June 20, 2025
    Preventing Contamination In Healthcare Facilities Starts With Hygiene
    June 15, 2025
    Strengthening Healthcare Systems Through Clinical and Administrative Career Development
    June 13, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Positive Health and the Heart
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Specialties > Cardiology > Positive Health and the Heart
CardiologyPublic Health

Positive Health and the Heart

GlennLaffel
Last updated: July 28, 2011 8:42 am
GlennLaffel
Share
7 Min Read
SHARE

For centuries, health providers have focused on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. This time-honored paradigm has generated phenomenal advances in medicine, especially in the last 60 years. It has also created a bit of an image problem for providers.

For centuries, health providers have focused on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. This time-honored paradigm has generated phenomenal advances in medicine, especially in the last 60 years. It has also created a bit of an image problem for providers. That’s because the paradigm encourages consumers to perceive health care as a negative good; in economic terms, a bundle of products and services that we use because we must, not because we want to. Recent trends towards empowered consumers are a symptom of this problem more than a solution to it, as I described here.

Recently, the concept of Positive Health has emerged as a possible antidote for the malaise. Pioneered by University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman, Positive Health encourages us to identify and promote people’s positive health assets—which Seligman describes as strengths that contribute to a healthier, more fulfilling life and yes improved life expectancy. According to Seligman, “people desire well-being in its own right and they desire it above and beyond the relief of their suffering.”

Proponents of Positive Health have proposed that social and functional factors are positive health assets. These include optimism, connectedness, a stable marriage and so forth. Scientists, often supported by the Robert Wood Johnson’s Pioneer Program, have begun studying these theories. Their results have been compelling to say the least.

More Read

FDA Shuts Down over 1600 Web Sites Selling Counterfeit and SubStandard Drugs
12 Common IRO Questions Answered
The Revolutionary Advent Of Precision Medicine In Cancer Treatment
PQRS and the Benefits of Participating in 2015
10 Powerful Keys To Vegan Wellness

This post is the first of a series on Positive Health. In each post, I’ll review scientific studies of the matter, and as the series unfolds, I’ll  discuss the potential impact of Positive Health on the traditional paradigm of medicine.

Heart Health Linked to Satisfaction with Life
Most people know that negative psychological states like stress, anxiety and depression are linked to poor health outcomes, including most especially a slew of adverse cardiac outcomes. Does it follow that a state of emotional and cognitive well-being can have a protective effect on cardiovascular health?

To answer this question, Harvard’s Julia Boehm and colleagues reviewed data from the Whitehall II study, which involved nearly 8,000 British civil servants. As part of that study, each participant had assessed his or her satisfaction with several dimensions of life experience including leisure activities, standard of living, job, health, family life, sex life, marital or love relationships and overall feelings about themselves as a person. Participants also provided yes/no answers regarding negative aspects of their lives including the presence of depression, anxiety and so forth. 

The Whitehall II study also collected information regarding age, gender and traditional cardiovascular risk factors like cigarette smoking, diabetes and hypertension, and assessed the incidence of coronary heart disease using three measures, presence of angina, documented heart attacks, and deaths from coronary disease, during a 5-year follow-up period after the information had been collected.

Boehm’s team re-examined these data and found a clear, indirect relationship between satisfaction with each life domain and the risk of coronary heart disease: people reporting higher satisfaction had lower cardiac risk. Specifically, subjects in the highest tertile of satisfaction had a 26% lower risk of coronary events, and those in the middle third had a 20% reduced risk compared with those reporting the lowest levels of life satisfaction.

These trends reached statistical significance in 4 of the 7 dimensions: satisfaction with job, family life, sex life and overall feelings about themselves, and they persisted after controlling for age, gender, health behaviors, blood pressure, and metabolic functioning.

What to Make of This?
The study provides strong, though narrowly focused support for Seligman’s theories about Positive Health. Being satisfied with specific life domains—especially the 4 mentioned above—is associated with lower risk of coronary heart disease, even after accounting for traditional cardiovascular risk factors. If these findings can be validated, scientists should follow-up with studies to determine whether interventions designed to enhance life satisfaction could reduce cardiovascular risk.

Of note, the beneficial effects in this study were localized to angina, one of 3 outcome measures examined by Boehm’s group. There was no association between life satisfaction and the so-called ‘hard’ cardiovascular outcomes like heart attacks and cardiovascular deaths.  Reporting bias could explain these findings: people that have favorable feelings about their lives might be more likely to report favorably about their health or have a higher tolerance for pain.

On the other hand, subjects in the Whitehall II study were relatively young (mean age = 50). In the natural history of coronary artery disease, angina frequently becomes manifest before heart attacks and death from cardiovascular course. Participants in the study were followed for a fairly short time, only 5 years. It’s possible that longer follow-up would have revealed higher incidence of ‘hard’ cardiovascular outcomes.

It’s also possible that–since nearly all patients who sustain heart attacks have coronary artery disease, but only some with atherosclerosis sustain a heart attack—life satisfaction might be associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis but not with the specific factors that predispose to thrombotic events, plaque rupture and other antecedent events to heart attacks.

Further studies are required to sort through these alternative explanations.

TAGGED:cardiologypositive healthwellness
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

women dental care
What Is a Smile Makeover and How Much Does It Cost?
Dental health
June 30, 2025
HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps
Top HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps for Healthcare Teams
Global Healthcare Policy & Law Technology
June 25, 2025
recovering from injury
Rebuilding After Injury: Path to Physical and Emotional Recovery
News
June 22, 2025
scientist using microscope
When Healthcare Ends, the Legal Process Begins: What Families Should Know About Probate and Medical Estates
Global Healthcare
June 18, 2025

You Might also Like

What If a Whole Country Goes on a Diet?

April 23, 2013

90+ Population Growing

February 2, 2012
obama and healthcare
Health ReformPolicy & LawPublic Health

Study: Mass. Reform Did Not Substantially Raise Acute Care Costs

May 21, 2013
Health careMental Health

Health In Your 60s: How To Prevent Common Conditions

August 28, 2019
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?