Optimism
Saturday, January 12, 2008
The Role of Stress in Just About Everything
You live in a majorly stressed out world. You’re never very far from a ringing cell phone or a guilt-inducing laptop. Traffic makes you flip out. And as if stressing out over lines, health, your job, your grades, or global terrorism wasn’t enough, along comes the APS Observer with one more thing in your life to stress out over: Stress.
Anxiety • Brain • Cardiovascular Health • Emotions • Genetics • Hormones • Immune System • Optimism • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Distress-prone People More Likely To Develop Memory Problems
People who are easily distressed and have more negative emotions are more likely to develop memory problems than more easygoing people, according to a new study. In the study, those who most often experience negative emotions such as depression and anxiety were 40 percent more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment than those who were least prone to negative emotions. Mild cognitive impairment is a transitional stage between normal aging and dementia.
Aging • Anxiety • Brain • Depression • Emotions • Mood • Optimism • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
Sunday, April 22, 2007
HeartMath’s emWave Personal Stress Reliever
Our emWave Personal Stress Reliever is on sale until the end of the April for $20.00 off. If you’re interested in realtime stress reduction and peak performance, please take a look at the two-minute demo.
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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Positive psychology is getting a tryout at McLean Hospital
In a first for a major psychiatric institution, Harvard’s McLean Hospital plans to invite greater happiness into its halls, embracing the teachings of a new movement in psychology that emphasizes the positive rather then the pathological. McLean is putting together a proposal to create an institute that will aim to teach healthcare providers and patients some of the more practical tenets of positive psychology, a mix of science and self-help that has been growing explosively in academia and building buzz in the media.
Healthcare • Optimism • Psychology • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Yet Another Worry for Those Who Believe the Glass Is Half-Empty
Now, it seems, pessimists may really have something to worry about: their health. A study by researchers in the Netherlands has found that people who are temperamentally pessimistic are more likely to die of heart disease and other causes than those who are by nature optimistic. Researchers found that subjects with the highest level of optimism were 45 percent less likely than those with the highest level of pessimism to die of all causes during the study. For those in the quartile with the highest optimism score, the death rate was 30.4 percent; those in the most pessimistic quartile had a death rate of 56.5 percent.
Cardiovascular Health • Depression • Emotions • Optimism • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Happy Emotions Boost Creativity
Seeing the world “through rose-colored glasses” may not just be a metaphor anymore. Increasing evidence suggests that our mood literally affects the way we visually process information. According to a new study published in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a happy mood may “free our mind” and increase our creative thinking abilities. However, being in a good mood may also make us more distracted. “Having a positive mood affects your attention—it can broaden your visual field, literally,” said Dr. Adam Anderson, assistant professor of psychology at University of Toronto and senior author of the study.
Amygdala • Creativity/Innovation • Emotions • Mood • Optimism • Productivity/Performance • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
An Appreciative Heart is Good Medicine
Psychologists once maintained that emotions were purely mental expressions generated by the brain alone. We now know that this is not true — emotions have as much to do with the heart and body as they do with the brain. Of the bodily organs, the heart plays a particularly important role in our emotional experience. The experience of an emotion results from the brain, heart, and body acting in concert. The Institute of HeartMath, a research center dedicated to the study of the heart and the physiology of emotions, has conducted numerous studies identifying the relationship between emotions and the heart. A number of their studies have provided new insight into understanding how the activity of the heart is indeed linked to our emotions and our health, vitality and well-being.
Anger • Appreciation • Autonomic Nervous System • Brain • Depression • Emotions • Heart Rate Variability • HeartMath • Hormones • Immune System • Optimism • Productivity/Performance • Psychology • Science • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
Thursday, June 22, 2006
emWave Personal Stress Reliever: A Sleek, Compact Portable Device for Reducing Stress Anytim
emWave™ is an entertaining mobile handheld device the size of a cell phone. At only 2.2 ounces, it’s the smallest, lightest personal stress reliever on the market today. emWave users learn how to easily reduce stress—such as anger, frustration, worry, and anxiety—in real-time. HeartMath has earned a global reputation for their 15 years of innovative research on the relationship between stress and emotions. emWave represents a breakthrough in personal stress reduction technology.
ADHD • Aging • Amygdala • Anger • Anxiety • Appreciation • Autonomic Nervous System • Brain • Burnout • Cardiovascular Health • Children • Cognition • Creativity/Innovation • Depression • Education • Emotions • Happiness • Health at Work • Healthcare • Heart Rate Variability • HeartMath • Hypertension • Immune System • Intuition • Media • Mood • Nurse Retention • Obesity • Optimism • Organizational Climate • Pain • Panic • Parenting • Placebo Effect • Productivity/Performance • Psychology • PTSD • Relationships • Reproduction • Science • Stress • Technology • Teenagers • (0) Comments • Permalink
Sunday, June 18, 2006
emWave Personal Stress Reliever
The emWave™ Personal Stress Reliever™ provides advanced mobile technology that will help you reduce the negative effects of stress, allowing you to experience greater health, more energy, and improved emotional and mental clarity.
Developed from the Institute of HeartMath’s 15 years of research on the relationship between the heart, brain, stress and emotions. emWave is both innovative and practical. It enhances your life through it scientifically validated technology, helping you reduce stress and gain a new sense of inner control any time...any where.
Anger • Anxiety • Appreciation • Autonomic Nervous System • Burnout • Cardiovascular Health • Cognition • Creativity/Innovation • Education • Emotions • Happiness • Health at Work • Heart Rate Variability • HeartMath • Mood • Optimism • Organizational Climate • Parenting • Productivity/Performance • Psychology • Science • Stress • Technology • Teenagers • (0) Comments • Permalink
Sunday, May 28, 2006
A cure for Stress?
It started as a hi-tech relaxation technique for burnt-out executives. Now everyone from schoolchildren to sports stars are discovering the seemingly miraculous benefits of HeartMath.
ADHD • Aging • Amygdala • Anger • Anxiety • Appreciation • Autonomic Nervous System • Brain • Burnout • Cardiovascular Health • Children • Cognition • Creativity/Innovation • Depression • Drugs • Education • Emotions • Happiness • Health at Work • Heart Rate Variability • HeartMath • Hormones • Hypertension • Immune System • Intuition • Memory • Mood • Optimism • Organizational Climate • Panic • Parenting • Productivity/Performance • Psychology • Science • Sleep • Stress • Technology • Teenagers • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Higher optimism levels associated with lower risk of cardiovascular death in elderly men
The most optimistic elderly men in a Dutch study had a lower risk of cardiovascular death over 15 years when compared with the least optimistic. Studies suggest that a person’s optimism can predict their well-being and physical health. Being optimistic has been associated with better health outcomes in patients with ischemic heart disease and with a lower risk for all-cause death and cardiovascular disease and death. The study authors focused on dispositional optimism, defined as having generally positive life engagement and expectancies for one’s future.
Aging • Cardiovascular Health • Mood • Optimism • (0) Comments • Permalink
Sunday, May 04, 2003
Emotions affect more than just outlook on life
Some people are just happier than others. Jim Carter welcomes a rainy day with, “Boy, we really needed it. Now, we can turn off the sprinklers and save on water.” Jaine Carter evaluates the dangers involved with too much rain with, “It’s coming down awfully hard. I hope our lawn doesn’t flood.”
Saturday, August 03, 2002
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Look on the sunny side and you’ll breathe easier, according to a new study. After completing a psychological test, 670 Boston men took periodic pulmonary exams over 10 years’ time. Optimists had better lung function than pessimists at the beginning, and though both groups worsened with age (everybody does), the gap between them widened. On one measure-the volume of air expelled in a second-- the difference between the rate of decline for optimists and that for pessimists was comparable to the difference between smokers and nonsmokers.
Sunday, January 09, 2000
Positive thinkers outlive pessimists, research suggests
Now that the future is here, how fitting that researchers are finally getting a grip on optimism, the curious human habit of expecting good things to happen, often in defiance of reality. Dozens of recent studies show that optimists do better than pessimists in work, school and sports, suffer less depression, achieve more goals, respond better to stress, wage more effective battles against disease and, yes, live longer.