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In This Article:
- Does slight stress improve resilience and immunity?
- Why is optimism linked to a longer lifespan?
- What can studies teach us about the connection between stress and health?
- Practical tips to cultivate positivity and reframe stress.
- How can biohacking your thinking influence happiness and health?
Does Stress Lead to More Happiness and a Longer Life Span?
by Sharad P. Paul, MD.
The audio is of the complete article.
Kelly McGonigal, psychologist at Stanford, has written a book titled, The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It. In the book, McGonigal talks about stress management and the power of considering it as a learning experiment. If someone can think that going through stress can make them better at handling it, it becomes easier and easier. And it turns out, the same is true for physical health—if you think stress is causing you ill health, it does; if you believe that stress cannot harm you, it doesn’t!
A research group from Wisconsin studied the impact of stress on health. The starting point of the study was the beginning of the quarter in which they were interviewed for the 1998 National Health Interview Survey—a household questionnaire distributed by the department of statistics to over 150,000 people—that asked people about the amount of stress they were under, if they felt if affected their health, and if they had taken any steps to reduce stress.
People were followed until 2006 when National Death Index mortality data were compared and matched with the interviewees. What this study found was staggering: those who reported a lot of stress and felt that stress impacted their health a lot had a 43 percent increased risk of premature death, and those that reported similar stress but felt that stress could not harm their health did not have this same risk of dying prematurely. Approximately 33.7 percent of American adults self-reported that stress had an impact on their health.
"Good" Stress and "Bad" Stress
There is a distinction between acute (short-term) stress and chronic (longer-term) stress; the former may indeed be beneficial. Animal studies have shown that significant but brief stressful events cause stem cells in the brains to produce new brain cells and improve performance. Essentially, short-term stress stimulates interleukins that boost our immunity and protect against illnesses; chronic stress, in contrast, lowers immunity and increases inflammation.
A study done on over a hundred pregnant women showed that babies born to women who experienced mild to moderate stress during pregnancy had better developmental skills at the age of two when compared to those kids whose mothers had no stress. Therefore, mild to moderate stress in short bursts can be good for us as long as we think of it in that manner. And this is even transmitted to the baby. The children of women who regarded their pregnancy as a negative rather than a positive time showed slightly poorer emotional control and attention capacity.
Therefore, when faced with stress, it is important to:
* Think of the body response as normal given the situation you are in.
* Be confident that you will not only get through this stress but be better for it.
* Consider that stress is something everyone faces and is not unique to you.
Even if in the past you were someone who viewed stress as negative, by embracing stress as a positive factor, you can change your health for the better. Research shows that anyone can change their thinking around to this positive mindset.
Many years ago, I used to run an independent bookstore café, Baci Lounge. I remember seeing a book called Living with a Black Dog, an illustrated book referring to depression. If one were to consider stress as a brown dog, the trick to dealing with it is in realizing that it may have a bark but no teeth to bite you. So, don’t worry. Be happy.
Manifesting Happiness
Hope, in my view, is learned optimism with a plan. Success under this plan involves three main components: goal, positivity, and agency (the first two are self-explanatory; agency is when you have control of your actions, in other words, have intentionality).
In medicine, we see the effects of positivity all the time. As a skin doctor, I routinely perform skin biopsies. In 2004, a team led by Marcel Ebrecht of Kings College, London, undertook a study on men undergoing a punch biopsy, a common dermatological procedure wherein a small cylindrical core of skin that typically involves all the layers of skin is punched out using an instrument.
It turned out that your wound healing depended on your thinking. The group was divided into slow and fast healers based on their wound healing times. A simultaneous assessment of mental thought processes was undertaken. The study showed that slow healers were significantly lower in optimism than fast healers. This was attributed to raised cortisol levels, which we know happens during stressful situations.
Optimism Is Better for Your Health
The Women’s Health Initiative was a large-scale project in America involving thousands of women designed to study changes in and predictors of quality of life, chronic diseases, and death rates among women across America. From this cohort, an eight-year study looked at more than 97,000 women and analyzed the differences in health outcomes between those who were optimists and those who were pessimistic thinkers.
The results were clear and dramatic. Over these eight years, optimists were not only less likely to develop coronary disease (reduced by 9 percent) but 30 percent less likely to die from heart disease.
Over and over again, the evidence in medical studies is overwhelming. A study from Wageningen University in Holland of nine hundred women found that optimists were less likely to die in the next ten years from any cause.
How to Cultivate Optimism
So, how does one cultivate positive thinking and hopeful optimism for greater success? Following the steps I have outlined next is a good guide. This is something I use when mentoring medical colleagues, students, and even school children.
I use VIGOUR as a useful mnemonic to help them remember these steps. (Please excuse the UK spelling. After all, I was born in England!)
V: Visualize success—Think of your goals and how you are going to achieve them—the plan and your actions.
I: Increase self-awareness—Known techniques for developing self-awareness are meditation and practiced breathing. Even keeping a daily journal can help.
G: Gratitude—Simple practiced gratitude like complimenting yourself and others; being grateful for people in your life and letting them know that. In a business, being grateful to and for your customers.
O: Optimism orbit—Hang out or spend time with positive people and avoid those who drag you down with their negativity.
U: Understanding—Essentially, understanding negativity is reframing your thinking. For example, if you are anxious about an exam, you can change your thinking to “I am not the only one. It is normal to feel this way. What’s the worst that can happen? Eventually things are going to work out fine.”
R: Reinforcement—This is where using external resources helps. Watching a comedy, buying something for yourself, or receiving gifts, etc.
Such practiced positivity helps not only your healthspan but also your lifespan.
Biohacking Your Negative Genes for Happiness
In this chapter, we have been discussing the differences between positive and negative thinkers. There are genetic variations between groups and our thinking alters our genes. DNA methylation is known to be involved in the regulation of stress-related gene expression, and a particular enzyme, DNMT3A, is involved in how your brain mediates and regulates such emotional processes.
A research study—even if a small observational one—looked at genetic variations between positive and negative thinkers and concluded that consistent patterns were observed for only one genetic variation (rs11683424 in the DNMT3A gene). People who carried the T-allele (CT or TT variant of the gene) of rs11683424 can buffer the impact of daily stressful events on negative affect. Buffering in mental health refers to positivity or processes that can ward of ill health.
We therefore know that some people are genetically more inclined to be positive thinkers. But we also know that practising positivity can help you alter your genes, and such epigenetics can lead to happiness and hopefulness no matter what your gene type.
Ultimately, science suggests that we can improve our health and control our life favorably as we are living it. It takes some effort, but there is something enjoyable that comes with the eudurance of this work: a better life.
The way you think—positive or negative—can affect not only your health but also your lifespan. There are methods in which you can learn optimistic and hopeful thinking, irrespective of your gene type.
Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved.
Book by this Author:
BOOK: Biohacking Your Genes
Biohacking Your Genes: 25 Laws for a Smarter, Healthier, and Longer Life
by Sharad P. Paul, MD.
Unlock the secrets to optimal health and longevity today! World-leading doctor and international expert on personalized health Dr. Sharad P. Paul details how you can cultivate a smarter, healthier, and longer life.
The healthcare industry treats illness, but true wellness and a healthy well-being actually come from your lifestyle, diet, and genetics. It’s time to stop underestimating the power of our genes and finally learn how we can biohack them to better our health. Unlike many other books on longevity, this book suggests that happiness and health are about one’s health-span, not lifespan. It includes the author’s essential twenty-five actionable tips for a better body and mind, backed by the author’s extensive scientific research and more than twenty-five years in medical practice.
For more info and/or to order this hardcover book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About the Author
Sharad P. Paul, MD, is a skin cancer specialist, family physician, evolutionary biologist, storyteller, social entrepreneur, and an adjunct professor at Auckland University of Technology. Born in England, with a childhood in India, he’s a global citizen and a noted polymath. He received the Ko Awatea International Excellence Award for “leading health Improvement on a global scale, and his work towards patient-centered medicine across several countries.” He has authored works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and medical textbooks. His new book is Biohacking Your Genes: 25 Laws for a Smarter, Healthier, and Longer Life (Beyond Words Publishing, Oct. 14, 2024). Learn more at BiohackingYourGenes.com
More books by this Author.
Article Recap:
Scientific research reveals that slight stress can boost resilience, immunity, and brain cell growth when viewed positively. Chronic stress, however, can have adverse effects. Studies show optimists live longer, with better cardiovascular health and immune responses. Techniques like visualization, gratitude, and mindfulness can foster positivity, even altering genes through epigenetics. Embracing stress as a growth tool enhances happiness and health, providing a roadmap for a fulfilling and longer life.
