The Health Benefits of Positive Thinking

Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include:

* Increased life span
* Lower rates of depression
* Lower levels of distress
* Greater resistance to the common cold
* Better psychological and physical well-being
* Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
* Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

It's unclear why people who engage in positive thinking experience these health benefits. One theory is that having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body. It's also thought that positive and optimistic people live healthier lifestyles — they get more physical activity, follow a healthier diet, and have reduced rates of smoking and alcohol consumption.

Source: Mayo Clinic

Life Challenges

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

Dale Carnegie

A Positive Outlook in Life

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.

Circumstances and situations do color life but you have been given the mind to choose what the color shall be.

John Homer Miller

Women Are Best At Being Buddies

A four-year study by sociologists at The University of Manchester has found that women are much more likely than men to make deep and lasting friendships.

The investigation into social networks by the University’s Research Centre for Socio-Cultural Change found that men are more fickle and calculating about who they should be friends with. Women on the other hand, stand by their friends through thick and thin.

Adding to the bad news for male prestige, the study confirms the stereotype that men are likely to base their friendship on social drinking. Of the 10,000 individuals studied who took part in the 1992 to 2002 British Household Panel Surveys, women are much more likely to stay with the same friends. Single people, older people and white collar workers are also good at paring up. Middle class people are more likely to cast their net of friendship far wider, whereas the working class tend to stick to their own kind.

Dr Gindo Tampubolon said the findings on female friendship were doubly significant because the data suggests we are much more likely to socialise with people from our own gender - 75 per cent of best friends were with the same sex. Dr Tampubolon, who is based at the School of Social Sciences, said: “Friendship between women seems to be fundamentally different to friendship between men. “It’s much deeper and more moral: it’s about the relationship itself rather than what they can get out of it. “Women tend to keep their friends through thick and thin across geography and social mobility.“And women’s view of friendship has something to do with how they express themselves and form their identity.“Men, on the other hand are more fickle with their relationships and seem more interested in ‘what’s in it for me’”.

He added: “The findings reflect our view that friendship is not a choice. We have contact with friends, family, neighbourhood and work which we are or are not able to turn into friendships.“Middle class people are more adept at doing this and tend to define friendship more widely such as work, family and the pub. “Working class people, on the other hand, are more limited: they’re likely to form a best friend with another working class person.”

Source: ScienceDaily (Mar. 8, 2007)

Making That Choice

We have the ability to determine our happiness hour by hour and day by day, through our thoughts and actions. We make that choice every morning when we get out of bed.

Catherine Pulsifer, from Happiness Is Not The Absence of Problems

Simplify Your Life

Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things.

Elise Boulding

Coffee, Anyone?

Everyday, millions of people around the world look forward to a cup of coffee. Whether at home, while on the move or at work, the aroma, taste and the sense of feeling “refreshed” after a cup of coffee brings pleasure to many of us, as we go about our daily lives.

Research shows that coffee, when drunk in moderation as part of a healthy diet and physically active lifestyle, is safe for healthy adults and can even have beneficial health implications such as preventing stroke in women and delaying aging.

While the body requires oxygen, it can also cause harm through the natural process called oxidation. Oxidation is said to be the primary catalyst for much of the damage associated with aging. This process produces potentially harmful by-products. In cells, these by-products are called oxygen free radicals, also known as reactive oxygen species. Free radicals can cause extensive damage to proteins, cell membranes, DNA, and the mitochondria which is the main source of energy. The damage made by free radicals makes the mitochondria less efficient in generating energy. Free radicals also produce bodily changes associated with aging.

Antioxidants, as the name suggests, counter oxidation. These are molecules capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of highly reactive molecules. They neutralize free radicals to inhibit them from further harming the cells. Antioxidants have the ability to hinder free radicals from inflicting damage to cells and affect the body’s genetic material that lead to irregular growth and cell reproduction.

Some antioxidants are found inside the body. The body produces natural antioxidants like glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) that counteract the negative effects of oxidation. But as a person gets older, he produces fewer antioxidants. This is the reason some health experts advise adding antioxidants to diet. The defense system of antioxidants also includes common nutrients like Vitamins C and E.

Foods rich in antioxidant include fruits, vegetables, nuts, certain meat products, and coffee. Berries, tomatoes, carrots, cherries, and grapes are known for their rich antioxidants content like Vitamins A, beta-carotene, and lycopene. Coffee, meanwhile, is famous for its polyphenolic antioxidants and thousands of various antioxidant compounds.

To stay youthful inside out, it is very important that a person lead a healthy lifestyle by getting enough sleep, proper exercise and having the proper diet.