3 Tips to Develop a Positive Perspective that can Boost Your Health

Whether you’re a natural optimist, a stoic realist or have a tendency towards pessimism, your health can benefit a lot from a little positive thinking. There aren’t many people who make it to adulthood without a few bumps along the way. But how we view our life – past, present, and future – has a BIG impact on our health.

Regardless of our optimistic or realistic personality traits, humans all have a negativity bias. This is a trait that makes negative situations and events carry more weight in our minds – we remember them more clearly, for longer and pay more attention to them. While helpful from an evolutionary perspective, in today’s world, it can lead to unnecessary stress and ill health.

Luckily for us, we’re able to direct our attention and thoughts in any way we like. We can choose to acknowledge the negative and look for the positive in situations and people. When practised, we can balance our negativity bias with a dose of positivity that will benefit our health, relationships and the opportunities that come our way.

The impact of a persistent pessimism

Always looking for the dark cloud in the blue sky increases feelings of anxiety and can lead to chronic depression. It’s not great for your physical health either. Our mental state is entwined with our physical health. Negative thinking can manifest into serious physical health issues.

One study looking at coronary heart disease found those with a pessimistic outlook on life had higher death rates than their more optimistic counterparts. Pessimism can also cause us problems with sleeping, hormone imbalance and chip away at our immune system, leaving us more vulnerable to infection. It can even increase your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Although always looking for the chink in our happiness is bad for us, the flip side - unrealistic positivity - can be just as detrimental. Avoiding difficult feelings, or worse, denying that we even have them, leads to health issues. Anxiety, depression and needing constant validation from others are signs that positivity has grown a dark side.

While it’s good for us to look on the bright side, we shouldn’t ignore or deny the negative aspects of life either. Negative feelings can prompt us to take action and steer our lives into happier, healthier or more secure waters. All feelings are valid. We need to take note of our emotions to direct our choices wisely.

Why does looking on the bright side of life improve our health?

The way we think impacts our brain chemistry. Negative thinking ups our production of cortisol and the enzyme alpha-amylase which breaks down starches and glycogen to feed our cells. This prepares our bodies for a flight/fight response. All this keeps us on edge and that’s no good for our health.

Conversely, positive thinking generates a different bunch of chemicals. Cortisol declines in our systems and our cohort of happy hormones – serotonin, dopamine and endorphins – increase. This trio of chemicals bolsters our health in a number of ways.

As well as stabilizing our mood, serotonin helps with digestion, sleep and helps our brain cells communicate with the cells in our nervous system. This makes it easier to focus, stay calm and think.

Dopamine is another neurotransmitter, this one is directly associated with pleasure and reward. It helps with blood flow, executive brain function – problem-solving, mood regulation, focus and memory – and movement too.

Endorphins are our natural pain killers and reduce inflammation in our bodies. They also boost self-esteem, aid memory and cognition, and support our immune system function. This hormone is the famous one behind runner’s high.

By turning thoughts in a positive direction, we can influence our mood and with it, our health. Having stable and consistent levels of serotonin, dopamine and endorphins running around our bodies helps our vascular, immune and digestive systems run as they should. We sleep better too allowing our bodies to completely restore and repair for a new day. Plus, life is a little more enjoyable when we notice the roses and stop to smell them once in a while.

How to teach ourselves to look for the silver lining

Always being happy is an unrealistic aim. It’s also detrimental to your health. When you experience difficult situations, pain or other circumstances that are less than positive, it’s healthy to feel negative emotions about them. There’s no need to dwell in the negative feeling though. Feelings of sadness, anger, and frustration can motivate us to take positive action and move to happier times.

Developing a positive perspective on life is more about how we respond to situations and our feelings than denying we ever have uncomfortable or negative thoughts and emotions. There are many ways to develop a more positive perspective. Below are my three favourites. I’ve used these to improve my outlook and help me stay focussed on the light at the end of my personal dark tunnels.

Gratitude Let’s face it, some days it can feel like everything has gone wrong and you just want to crawl back into bed and wait for a new day to dawn. Before you do, try writing just three things that you appreciate or that made you smile.

They don’t have to be big, nor do they need to be shared with anyone else. You do need to write them by hand and you do need to give yourself a few moments to replay that moment in your mind. Gratitude prompts your brain to release dopamine so it will be easier to focus on the happy moments with each one you note.

Switch the problem for the solution Negative thinking has a tendency to spiral out of control. Becoming upset about repeatedly missing the train can easily turn into losing your job, house and friends. Instead of focusing on the problem, make a conscious effort to focus on a solution.

Becoming solution focussed turns your negative experience into positive action. Concerns about your job, relationship, health – any aspect of your life – can become positive motivators for change. So next time you find yourself turning over a worry or moaning to yourself, change perspective and ask yourself, “What can I do to make this situation better?”

Give yourself a high five Many of us set big goals and forget to encourage ourselves along the way. Giving yourself a high five or ten points for doing well reinforces a positive perspective. If you’ve taken steps in the direction of your happiness, begun solving a problem that’s been getting you down or just gotten through a particularly difficult time, you deserve some acknowledgment!

Life doesn’t happen all at once and we’d hate it if it did. Everything takes at least a little time to come together so pat yourself on the back for the progress you’ve made, the hurdles you’ve cleared and the detours you took that taught you more. Being kind to yourself and recognising your progress will help you see the bright side a little more often.

Having a positive outlook isn’t about grimly smiling through difficult times no matter what. It is about actively looking for the good in situations – even if that good is just realising you need to make a change or ask for help. A healthy dose of positivity is good for your body and mind – it’ll make the passing of your days a lot more enjoyable and even extend them.