Health Benefits of a Positive Mental Attitude

Live a longer, healthier life by developing a positive mental attitude. A positive outlook on life will help you to feel better and significantly reduce your stress level. Emerging research indicates that a positive mental attitude may also help mitigate the physical damage caused to your body by stress, according to Charles Raison, M.D., Director Behavioral Immunology Program, Emory University School of Medicine.

Beliefs that negate the mind-body connection are quickly becoming outdated as science begins to validate what some positive mental health experts have tried to teach us for years. Yet developing a positive mental attitude is not as easy as simply making a decision to do it. That is the first step, but it takes a conscious effort to integrate thinking and lifestyle in order to develop an attitude that will help you feel better, live healthier, and live longer.

Establishing a positive mental attitude involves assessing your current situation with an objective view of determining what is normal. In order to live a healthier, more positive life you may have to re-define how you are willing to live and what you are willing to accept as normal. If living in the doldrums has become normal for you, then it is time to redefine normal. Normal should be a happy and forward moving state that is an environment generally free of negativism, self-doubt, and unhealthy self-criticism.

Part of renewing your mind and developing a positive mental attitude for better health includes approaching life as a challenge from which you can learn and grow. Every obstacle need not be a mountain, but when you do face mountains and roadblocks you must begin to understand that these are opportunities to learn and grow. Growth, personal development, and self-actualization should become life objectives. This will help you approach even the most difficult challenges with an outlook for a positive outcome.

Your perception of your life and well-being will influence your life and health. Begin to work on viewing yourself and your world from a more positive perspective to reap the mental and physical rewards of a positive mental attitude.

Sources:

Charles Raison, M.D., Director, Behavioral Immunology Program, Emory University School of Medicine. "Can A Positive Mental Attitude Really Help Me Cope With Stress?"

Jahoda, Marie. Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health, 1979.