American Psychological Association (APA) Metasites and Megasites. Optimism Helps Manage Stress Hormones. By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor Reviewed by John M.
Grohol, Psy.D. on July 24, 2013 For years, scientists have observed the health benefits of a positive or optimistic outlook on life — especially as related to stress management. But until recently, the biological basis for the stress reduction has been unknown. New research from Concordia University is expanding our knowledge of how optimists and pessimists each handle stress by comparing them not to each other but to themselves. Emerging findings show that the stress hormone cortisol tends to be more stable in those with more positive personalities. Stressed People Have Over Twice the Risk of Heart Attack. By Traci Pedersen Associate News Editor Reviewed by John M.
Grohol, Psy.D. on June 29, 2013 Stressed-out people have more than double the risk of having a heart attack, compared to their non-stressed counterparts, according to a new study published in the European Heart Journal. Furthermore, a patient’s perception of their stress levels may even predict their risk for a heart attack years down the road. For the study, lead researcher Herman Nabi and his team gave questionnaires to 7,268 participants who thought of themselves as stressed, in order to determine whether there was a link between their stressful feelings and the occurrence of coronary disease some years later. The participants were asked to answer the following question: “To what extent do you consider the stress or pressure that you have experienced in your life to have affected your health?”