Positive affect and health-related neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and inflammatory processes

Abstract

Negative affective states such as depression are associated with premature mortality and increased risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and disability. It has been suggested that positive affective states are protective, but the pathways through which such effects might be mediated are poorly understood. Here we show that positive affect in middle-aged men and women is associated with reduced neuroendocrine, inflammatory, and cardiovascular activity. Positive affect was assessed by aggregating momentary experience samples of happiness over a working day and was inversely related to cortisol output over the day, independently of age, gender, socioeconomic position, body mass, and smoking. Similar patterns were observed on a leisure day. Happiness was also inversely related to heart rate assessed by using ambulatory monitoring methods over the day. Participants underwent mental stress testing in the laboratory, where plasma fibrinogen stress responses were smaller in happier individuals. These effects were independent of psychological distress, supporting the notion that positive well-being is directly related to health-relevant biological processes.cortisol ͉ well-being ͉ fibrinogen ͉ heart rate T here is growing evidence that affective states are associated with physical health. A metaanalysis of 25 prospective studies of adults with follow-up periods ranging from 2 to 16 years showed a consistently increased risk of mortality for both clinical and subclinical depression (1). Negative affective states such as depression are associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and disability (2-4). Research in positive psychology is beginning to identify effects of psychological well-being on health as well (5, 6). For example, Danner et al. (7) reported a longitudinal analysis of a sample of Catholic nuns, in which the positive emotional content of writings at the age of 22 was associated with longevity during a 60-year period. A negative relationship between life satisfaction and mortality has been described in a 20-year study of initially healthy Finnish adults that was independent of marital status and social class (8). Whittington and Huppert (9) showed that 7-year mortality in a British cohort was more consistently associated with the absence of positive well-being than with the presence of symptoms of psychological distress. Other studies have reported that a lack of positive affect rather than heightened negative affect predicts mortality (10), stroke (11), and the development of disability (12) in older adults.Two sets of mechanisms could theoretically mediate the relationship between affective states and physical health. First, positive well-being might be associated with favorable health habits and prudent lifestyles. For example, cigarette smoking is associated with psychological distress (13), and depression and anxiety are inversely related to leisure-time physical activity (14). The second possibility is that associations are mediated through psychobiological proce...

Circadian affective, cardiopulmonary, and cortisol variability in depressed and nondepressed individuals at risk for cardiovascular disease

“…Recent results from Steptoe and colleagues (Steptoe, Wardle, & Marmot, 2005;Strike, Wardle, & Steptoe, 2004) demonstrate the importance of such data. The authors found a relationship between inflammatory stimulation and negative mood, while temporary PA was inversely related to cortisol and heart rate (HR).…”

The heart's content: The association between positive psychological well-being and cardiovascular health.

“…In contrast, positive affect was not associated with IL-6 in the relocation study of older women, which accounted for risk factors and depressive symptoms (E. M. Friedman et al, 2007). Finally, in a study that measured positive affect through ecological momentary assessment, men and women with low versus high positive affect tended to have greater fibrinogen responses to stress, controlling for age, employment, smoking status, BMI, and distress (Steptoe, Wardle, & Marmot, 2005).…”

Social Determinants of Risk and Outcomes for Cardiovascular Disease

“…34,[268][269][270][271][272][273][274] This is an important consideration because it may be possible to use clinical 109 and public health interventions 92 to reduce this burden, thereby narrowing health disparities. Second, social and economic stresses lead to a biological wear and tear, or allostatic stress response, [275][276][277][278][279][280] involving a number of pathways, including stimulation of stress hormones, [280][281][282] inflammation, 283 endothelial dysfunction, thrombosis, vascular hyperreactivity, 270,274,[284][285][286][287] and metabolic disturbances. 270,285,288,289 Third, the effects of socioeconomic disadvantage in utero and in early childhood have long-term anatomical and physiological effects that lead to CVD in adulthood.…”