Do you view your glass as half empty or half full? Do you tend to concentrate more on the problems you’re facing or what you’re gaining from the experience? Positive thinking is more than a personality trait, it’s a way of life. The more optimistic you are, the happier you will be.  Your thinking will affect all aspects of your life, including your body and health.

On the other hand, if you keep looking at events in your life with rose cooled glasses, then all you will see is doom and gloom. Below is an overview of the benefits of positive thinking.

Advantages of Thinking Positively

1. Reduces Stress Levels

People who think positively tend to have lower stress levels. Research has actually proved this. A study conducted on college students assessed the coping mechanisms and stress at the start and end of the semester and found that positive students had much lower stress levels. In another study conducted on missile attack survivors, it was shown that pessimists were more prone to depression and anxiety after the experience.

While the above are extra ordinary cases, they are a clear indication that optimism does help improve quality of life and reduce stress levels.

2. Fosters Better Relationships

 Positive thinkers tend to have better luck in relationships. The reason for this is that people are more attracted to optimists than pessimists. Also, optimists always choose to see the good in others rather than focusing on the bad. This helps build better relationships that last a lifetime.

3. Slows Down the Aging Process

Optimists age like fine wine and cheese – they only get better with age. A study conducted on adults over the age of 60 showed that pessimists were 80% more likely to experience functional and mobility complications sooner that their optimistic counterparts. If you want to delay the onset of aging, then you might want to have a more positive outlook towards life. This is one of the benefits of positive thinking.

4. Improves Self-Preservation

It would be easy to assume that optimists take less precautions to prevent health disasters such as heart complications since they always expect thing to work out for the best. However, this is not the case. Positive thinkers generally take better care of their bodies than pessimists. They are more likely to practice safe sex, eat healthy and workout.

5. Increase of Pain Tolerance

If you are an optimist, you have a higher tolerance of pain then someone who is always negative. You would expect that a pessimist would tolerate pain more since they are always expecting it, but this is not the case.

6. Improves Coping Skills

George Patton, an adolescent health research professor at Murdoch Children’s Center for Adolescent Health in Melbourne says that optimists are less likely to develop a range of physical and mental health complications such as cardiovascular diseases and depression by the time they are in their old age.

Among teenagers, the same study showed that positive thinking helps stave off depression and keep heavy substance abuse and antisocial behavior at bay. While other factors do come into play on this issue such as upbringing and psychological functioning. It also happens that kids who are more optimistic are better able to deal with the behavioral and emotional problems experienced by teens.

7. Helps Lower Blood Pressure

Did you know that your pessimism may be the cause of your high blood pressure? Research published in the Journal of Personality & Social Psychology shows that pessimists tend to have higher blood pressure than optimists. This is probably down to the fact that they are more stressed. A normal blood pressure is one of the benefits of positive thinking.

8. Improves Confidence

Being a positive thinker enables you to be more confident. Generally, people who are optimistic about the future tend to be more confident about themselves and their skills. On the other hand, pessimists are always criticizing their won skills and abilities and therefore have no reason to be confident about themselves.

A causal observation of people will reveal that people who are cheerful and happy tend to have a high self-esteem. They are more comfortable in their own skin than pessimists.

9. Boosts Immunity

As mentioned earlier, positive thinking helps keep stress a bay. Consequently, this results in better health and well-being. Optimists are less likely to suffer from common illnesses such as viral fever, flu and even sever ones like heart ailments. People who are sick can feel much better by focusing on the positive rather than the negative, even without medication.  Research has shown that a relaxed mind and happy thoughts trigger the release of stress-relieving hormones that help improve the body’s immunity. This ensures that you fall ill less often

10. Helps with Success

If you have a positive outlook on life, you tend to focus on things that you excel at instead of your failures. As a result, you get to see more opportunities in your life and get to learn and try new things. Optimists are generally more successful in life than their pessimist counterparts.

11. Improves Appearance

You will look more beautiful if you are a positive thinker. Optimists are happier, more approachable and pleasant to be with than pessimists. Most people find these traits attractive and tend to make friends with them. You become more beautiful in the eyes of those around you if you are optimistic. Attractiveness is one of the benefits of positive thinking.