A new NIH study of older men has found that those with a sunny outlook are less than half as likely to develop heart disease as those who are pessimists.

Researchers followed a group of more than 1,300 men (average age at enrollment was 60) for ten years. They used a scoring system to characterize each along a continuum from pessimist to optimist. They found that each step up the scale toward optimism decreased the risk of CHD.

The researchers suggest that the protective effects of optimism may be due in part to lower stress, which has been shown to decrease the risk of heart disease. Also, optimists are more likely to engage in health-promoting activities such as exercising and not smoking. The study's authors, writing in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, note that their findings apply only to white men and should not be generalized to women or non-white men.

Related information About cholesterol - The blood cholesterol - heart disease connection

Source:  A smile a day may help keep heart disease away. FDA Consumer magazine, January-February 2002.