Having An Optimistic Partner Improves Physical And Psychological Health

Winston Churchill once said that a pessimist sees difficulty at every opportunity; an optimist, on the other hand, sees the opportunity in every difficulty. How can you not appreciate the people who maintain this vital focus in their day-to-day life? Knowing this, surely we will not question the conclusion reached by a recent study: having an optimistic partner improves health.

Having a life partner who makes things easy, who sees solutions to every problem and who always wears the glasses of hope and enthusiasm directly reverses our state of mind. We could safely say that these glittering personalities are a gift from fate.

It is true that it is not always easy to maintain this personal vision. That positivity that awakens enthusiasm and encourages daily improvement requires a personality as special as it is unique. This mental flexibility, that generosity and almost innate sense of humor, makes them not only ideal figures to love. They are also the best friends we can have. 

Having an optimistic partner improves health according to science

Being optimistic is not going to laugh a lot. Nor to feed a mental focus injected with illusory fantasies, with unrealistic perspectives. The truth is that the field of positive psychology headed by figures such as Martin Seligman or Mihály Csíkszentmihályi have been studying this personality profile for decades. Optimism defines neither more nor less than a good capacity for adaptation and a great resistance to misfortune.

In this way, the human character impregnated by that patina of optimism, supposes little more than an advantage at all levels. He is someone who looks for alternatives in times of adversity. They are people who also show a great ability to cushion pain and worry.

So much so that we even have studies such as those carried out at the Rockefeller University in New York, in which we are told that optimistic people live longer. Positivity helps us live longer.

Now, it is possible that many of these data are already more or less known to us. What is perhaps new to us is knowing that having an optimistic partner improves health. This is what science tells us about it.

The optimist has better life habits (and the couple integrates them)

The research, conducted at Michigan State University, first tells us something important. Optimistic people, on average, have healthier lifestyles. They do sports, have a more balanced and healthy diet, do not smoke, do not consume alcohol …

Sharing the day-to-day with someone accustomed to taking care of himself makes us assume those same habits little by little. In this way, these healthy behaviors lead to fewer diseases, especially cardiovascular ones.

Cognitive impairment is reduced

William Chopik, co-author of this work, highlights another interesting as well as significant data. We know that having an optimistic partner improves health, but what it also does is reduce cognitive decline.

This research was conducted on a sample of 4,500 couples over several decades. It was especially interesting to analyze that retirement period in which symptoms of cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s-type dementias begin to appear. Thus, something really remarkable was to see how many of these people maintained good memory skills, problem solving, creativity, etc.

Sense of humor and ability to solve problems together

Having an optimistic partner improves health for another remarkable reason: it injects us with hope, positivity and a sense of humor. Having by our side someone who knows how to give light and not darkness in our day-to-day lives allows us to see things differently.

In fact, few things are as necessary as having a life partner focused on wanting to solve problems and not make them worse. Likewise, having a partner with a good sense of humor, who awakens us smiles and no worries at every moment is undoubtedly an emotional gift and an injection of vitamins for well-being and health.

Having an optimistic partner improves psychological health

Optimism is an ingredient of power in love. So much so that it can be the best engine for a relationship to work and we enjoy that undying happiness that makes everything easy. The reason? There is not one, there are many:

• Having an optimistic partner improves psychological health because communication is always fluid, respectful and aimed at solving any problem.
• Optimism is an antidote to stress and depression. Having someone capable of making us see the good things in our day to day, reducing our fears, anxieties and worries directly reverts to mental well-being.
• This personality type is also defined by traits such as honesty, motivation, enthusiasm and empathy. All these qualities revert directly to the success of that relationship.

To conclude, it never hurts to highlight something interesting: optimism is also trained. We all have the ability and the opportunity to take a more open, flexible and luminous approach to navigate through life with better psychological resources. Health will appreciate it .