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You might call Maarten van der Weijden the anti - Lance Armstrong . Last week , the Dutch Olympian long - space swim wizard and cancer survivor told the British newspaperThe Telegraphthat he did n’t desire to be compared to the American cycling star .
" Armstrong say that positivistic thinking and doing a lot of sports can deliver you . I do n’t agree , " said van der Weijden . " I even cerebrate it ’s dangerous because it imply that if you are not a positive thinker all the time you drop off … The doctors saved me . I am just lucky . "
There is no clear-cut answer yet on whether being upbeat can keep you healthy or cure anything. But there is evidence suggesting a connection.
invoke and promise
There for certain is an entreaty to believing that you have some point of control over a debilitating illness . " I think it ’s part of the American smell , " say James Coyne , director of the behavioral oncology program at the Abramson Cancer Center and professor of psychological science at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine . " There ’s this idea that you could succeed and curb anything , even sickness , on the basis of your character . "
And studies prove a possible connexion between overconfident thinking and health are frequently in the news . For example , work by researchers at Ben - Gurion University in Israel advise that womanhood who ’ve faced several life challenges , such as a death in the family or divorce , are more likely to be diagnosed with knocker genus Cancer than peer who ’ve had more stable , happy lives . The resultant role were detailed in the Aug. 21 issue of the journalBMC Cancer .
The same study also found that women with cancer were more likely to report that , prior to diagnosis , they had been queasy or depressed and that bad things had happened in their life .
Ronit Peled , one of the Ben - Gurion University researchers , say this was grounds for a relationship between emotional well - being and the risk of contracting cancer . " The primary subject matter from my point of view is that young women who have severe biography issue at a young long time should be considered a endangerment group for breast cancer and treated accordingly , " she read . " But ecumenical flavor of felicity and optimism in one ’s life can play a protective part . "
Coyne said the public often takes news like this to mean that prescribed thinking has been unequivocally leaven to be good for your health .
But the accuracy is a small more complicated .
How do you feel ?
In realism , there is no clear - make out answer yet on whetherbeing upbeatcan keep you levelheaded or cure anything , Peled and Coyne both said . Research on the subject is separate between studies like Peled ’s and studies like the one Coyne did , detail in December 2007 in the journalCancer , which found that aroused well - being was n’t an accurate predictor of whether or not patient with neck and head malignant neoplastic disease survived .
Coyne is specially skeptical of positive thinking ’s power over cancer . " The trouble with cancer is that it ’s so complex . By the time you ’re diagnosed it may have been building for decade , " he said .
For other diseases , though , the scientific expectation is cheery . Coyne said there ’s evidence that mood can predict whether someone who has had one spunk attempt will have another . And he say there is a biological account for why this might be possible .
small inquiry has been done on the biological basis of positive thinking as a alterative treatment for illness , but Coyne said scientist do it the brain and the immune organisation communicate . consecrate that scientists also screw the immune organisation plays a role in inflaming of the arteries , which can playact a office in heart flack , it ’s reasonable to call back that heart attacks could be tied back to things going on in the encephalon .
Good , bad
However , when Coyne and other researchers seek to arbitrate and handle depressive disorder amongheart attackpatients , they found the patient ’s moods improved , but the rates of 2d heart tone-beginning did n’t . Ironically , Coyne said , the most grounds for emotion affecting wellness actually favors negative emotions , not positivist one . For instance , he say , we know anger and depression are correlate with having a second spunk fire , however , what ’s unproved is whether being positive can reduce the risk .
Another way emotion could affect wellness , even for complicated illness such as Crab , is by regard the patient ’s willingness to stick to the treatment plan . " It could be an indirect gist , " say Anne Harrington , chair of Harvard University ’s story of science curriculum and author of " The Cure Within : A account of Mind - Body Medicine " ( W.W. Norton , 2008 ) . " If a soul is positive , he or she is more likely to show up for all the treatments to have a best diet to do . And if you ’re deeply down in the mouth you catch some Z’s mischievously and that ’s regretful for your health . "
But Harrington and Coyne echoed the headache of Maarten van der Weijden , saying that finding about emotions and health should n’t be used to pressure patients into feeling a sure way .
In fact , Harrington said , that could bruise the patient more than if they ’d been left alone . " Misinterpretations of this research can make people afraid to have the feelings they have , " she said . " I have a colleague who ’s studied this and it ’s very clear from his piece of work that it ’s just as stressful to keep up a functioning of profitableness as it is to [ keep up ] a tough mood . It ’s very nerve-wracking to be inauthentically upbeat all the clip . "
