The Mind/Body Connection: Positivity and Physical Health

Working out and eating healthy are both important components to a healthy lifestyle. But what about your mindset? This post will list the various reasons why a healthy, positive mindset is just as important as taking care of your body’s physical needs. Thinking positively promotes a calm, stress-free lifestyle, and research has shown time and time again that it has numerous other benefits—from aiding in healing illnesses to hindering obesity and sleep interruption. This is because repeated positive thinking lowers cortisol—a stress hormone that promotes fat storage and influences anxious emotions. 

Let’s start with the difference between positive thinking and negative thinking. People who think positively generally expect good things to happen, and see the best in situations. Those who think negatively dwell on bad things that have happened to them, and tend to see the worst in most situations. 

There are two ways that positive thinking can have an effect on your physical health: directly through your biology, and indirectly through thought patterns that later lead to actions. 

To start, this blog post will focus on the physical ways that positive thinking can affect one’s overall health. A 2018 study from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology assessed the relationship between a positive mindset and cardiovascular disease. The study concluded that there is a positive correlation between a person’s positive thought patterns and cardiovascular health. These thought patterns included optimism, gratitude, self-efficacy, thinking about positive life events, and discovering a sense of meaning or purpose.

To give an example of an indirect way positive thinking can impact one’s physical health, we will examine a 2016 study from the Journal of Health Psychology. The study assessed the impact of positive thinking with multiple sclerosis (MS) on their physical therapy. Various factors were measured, but for the purposes of this post we’ll focus on their positive thinking in regards to purpose, self-efficacy, and reinforcement. Another 2013 study evaluated the effects of stress responses and cortisol levels after negative thinking. A majority of the participants were measured at higher cortisol levels and negative reactions after focusing on a negative or traumatic event. High cortisol levels are linked to weight gain, shorter life span, poor cardiovascular health, and disrupted sleeping patterns.

These studies, along with others, show that both positive and negative thought patterns have quite an impact on one’s biological health. 

Often, there is a stereotype that a person should be unhappy with their body when starting a fitness journey. This kind of self-view promotes negative self-talk, and only increases a pessimistic attitude towards fitness in general. When a workout does not go as planned or a daily caloric-intake level is exceeded, this type of view can lead to someone mentally beating themselves up for living life and being human. A positive attitude can do more than just lower cortisol levels and lead to a longer lifespan—it can totally transform our relationship with fitness and nutrition. Perspective is everything, especially when it comes to making lifestyle changes.   

So, we know what you’re thinking. “I know all of the effects of positive thinking on the body at this point, but how do I put them into practice?” Stay tuned for the next blog post, where we will go over 10 ways to help yourself think more positively to help achieve your fitness goals  and improve your overall health.  

Sources:

Kubzansky, L., Huffman, J., Boehm, J., Hernandez, R., Kim, E., Koga, H., . . . Labarthe, D. (2018).  Reprint of: Positive Psychological Well-Being and Cardiovascular Disease: JACC Health  Promotion Series. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 72(23 Pt B), 3012-3026.

Hall-McMaster, S. M., Treharne, G. J., & Smith, C. M. (2016). ‘The positive feel’: Unpacking the  role of positive thinking in people with multiple sclerosis’s thinking aloud about staying  physically active. Journal of Health Psychology, 21(12), 3026–3036.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105315592047

O’connor, Walker, Hendrickx, Talbot, & Schaefer. (2013). Stress-related thinking predicts the  cortisol awakening response and somatic symptoms in healthy adults.  Psychoneuroendocrinology,38(3), 438-446.