Introduction
Optimism is regarded as one of the best treatments for illnesses and life difficulties. People with this characteristic feel happier and can overcome stressful situations efficiently. In addition, optimism positively impacts people’s mental and physical health and can reduce the number of diseases a person might face or the consequences of these illnesses. Optimistic people are less likely to have depression and anxiety, and these people can overcome different life obstacles. Robust optimism positively influences the immunity system by improving mental and physical health, and stress resistance, developing the body’s natural defenses, and promoting possibilities for immunity to serving longer.
The impact of optimism on mental health immunity responses
Firstly, optimism impacts immunity by leading to better reactions to stressful situations and improving a person’s ability to cope with problems. At the same time, pessimism reduces these abilities and might lead to mental disorders. The main difference between optimism and pessimism is how an individual responds to different problems. Optimistic people expect good outcomes, while pessimists focus on the negative. An optimistic attitude improves stress resistance and the ability to cope with mental disorders (Carver and Scheier 402). As a result, due to such an attitude, the immune system is strengthened, and the organism’s ability to defend itself improves. Furthermore, a person with a positive attitude is less likely to face distress in difficult situations. In addition, positive feelings lead to better immune responses, while pessimistic ones cause a sluggish immune reaction, especially to mental health disorders (Carver and Scheier 403). For instance, a person with a negative attitude to life is more likely to face stress and anxiety due to the inability to feel life satisfaction. Hence, optimism improves immunity by creating a positive environment to cope with stress, anxiety, and mental disorders.
The impact of optimism on physical health immunity responses
Secondly, optimism boosts the immunity system by reducing the occurrence of physical health issues or decreasing their consequences and leads to faster and better recovery. Positive thoughts keep a body in good shape and improve its natural defense. For instance, an individual with a positive life attitude has fewer chances of getting sick. Nevertheless, optimists are still getting ill and face severe diseases, but a positive attitude is helpful during recovery and healing. The relationships between positive thoughts, an optimistic attitude, and a faster recovery and healing process might be seen in the medical context. For example, optimistic people who face cancer or other severe disease have a higher quality of life and a faster healing process after medical intervention in comparison with pessimists (Segerstrom et al. 197). On the other hand, a negative attitude complicates the recovery and healing process and might cause relapse. In addition, a positive mood is kept up by optimism, which increases the chances of better and faster recovery. Therefore, optimism reduces physical health issues and their negative consequences and provides faster healing and recovery.
Optimism increases natural immune protection
Thirdly, optimism affects immunity by increasing its natural protection and strengthening the immune system to serve longer. Natural immunity protection is one of the most important defenses of the persons organism, but time and negative feelings make this protection weaker. A negative attitude destroys immune barriers faster and leads to deadly health consequences. Furthermore, pessimism creates more obstacles to immunity to fight with, while an optimistic one reduces them. For example, during the healing process, pessimism might create different mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and life dissatisfaction because of disease (Segerstrom et al. 195). The organism of this person should fight not only illnesses but mood disorders and negative thoughts, which decrease the immunity’s ability to serve longer. In addition, some illnesses require taking different supplements, which might harm an organism. The more pessimistic the person is, the harder it is to fight disease and the more supplements it requires, so the ability to protect immunity naturally decreases. Thus, an optimistic attitude affects an organism’s ability to naturally respond and protect itself from diseases and create a positive environment for immunity to serving longer.
The negative impact of excessive optimism on immunity
Lastly, despite the positive impact of optimism on immunity, the positive thoughts might lead to underestimation of different risks, which may negatively influence the immunity system. In the medical context, medical intervention requires accurate and careful treatment of many severe illnesses. An optimistic attitude cannot cure them but may make the process easier. Nevertheless, excessive optimism leads to wrong interpretations of situations, might cause different problems, and lead to wrong decisions (Segerstrom et al. 200). In addition, an optimistic attitude is not enough to boost immunity and reduce problems; actions are needed. Hence, excessive optimism may negatively influence immunity by underestimating different risks and making wrong decisions.
Conclusion
To conclude, optimism improves physical and mental health by forming positive responses to external factors. The robust optimism boosts immunity and creates a positive environment for the immunity system to serve longer. In addition, optimism helps to reduce mental and physical disorders by increasing the organism’s natural protection. However, this optimism should be robust and should help immunity to improve and not bring harm.
Works Cited
Carver, Charles S., and Scheier Michael F. “Optimism coping, and well-being”, The handbook of stress and health: A guide to research and practice, edited by Cary Cooper and James Campbell Quick. John Wiley & Sons, 2017, pp. 400–414.
Segerstrom, Suzanne C., et al. “Optimism”, The Happy Mind: Cognitive Contributions to Well-Being 195, edited by Michael D. Robinson, Michael Eid. Springer, 2017, pp. 195-215