Chapter 6: Positive Health

Question 1

Wellness

Answer 1

State of optimal physical, mental and emotional health.

Question 2

Wellness characteristics

Answer 2

1. A zest for life
2. A way of living that maximizes potential
3. A sense of meaning and purpose
4. A sense of social responsibility
5. Skills for adapting to the challenges of a changing envrionment

Question 3

Positive health

Answer 3

Indicated by excellence in measures of:

1. Biological markers (genes, inflammation, cardiac health)
2. Subjective experiences (how experience their own health/wellness?)
3. Functional abilities (daily functioning capacity)

Question 4

Psychological thriving

Answer 4

Positive growth that goes beyond coping and adaptation.

Question 5

Vitality definition and benefits

Answer 5

The energy available to the self; “Positive feeling of aliveness and energy”; a zest for life!

• More likely to engage in self-determination opportunities and feel a strong sense of self-determination
• Feel more confidence, more autonomous, better sense of relating to others
• Experience better health and longevity (less sickness and mortality, go hand in hand)

Question 6

Polyvagal theory and HRV

Answer 6

The activity of the vagus nerve to the heart is involved in social behavior, demonstrated by heart-rate variability (HRV).

When the vagus nerve to the heart is functioning well, our heart rates show more variability in response to social and interpersonal situations. High HRV indicates strong self-regulation.

Question 7

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)

Answer 7

Looks at the interactions between psychological response, immune system response, endocrine system response and peripheral nervous system response (using T-cells, white blood counts, etc.).
Stress increases susceptibility to illness, while social support decreases susceptibility to illness.

Question 8

The 4 Humors

Answer 8

1. Yellow Bile
2. Blood
3. Phlegm
4. Black Bile

Question 9

Exercise benefits

Answer 9

Physical benefits: improved sleep, lower morbidity and mortality, less likely to get a cold
Cognitive benefits: improved attention
Socio-emotional benefits: increased self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-efficacy, reduction in nervous energy/anxiety via physical activity

Question 10

Vagal tone function and benefits

Answer 10

Vagus nerve decreases heart rate (parasympathetic).

• Social behavior: Positive emotions tend to have a beneficial impact (related to undoing effect), increased social connection.
• Self-regulation of emotions.
• Psychophysiological coherence - improved vagal tone and HRV, along with self-regulation.
• You can increase vagal tone and HRV through exercise, yoga and meditation!

Question 11

Mind-body connection

Answer 11

The relationship between mind and body is reciprocal/bidirectional! The body influences the mind, and the mind influences the body.

Question 12

Psychological factors of positive health

Answer 12

1. Positive Emotionality
2. Social Support
3. Love
4. Humor
5. Music
6. Emotional Expression
7. Cognition

Question 13

Positive emotionality attributes

Answer 13

Physical strength to run away (cardiovascular)
Autonomic NS - connected to vagal tone and undoing hypothesis
Immune system - positive emotions increase protection against illness
Morbidity - decreased with positive emotion
Mortality - decreased with positive emotion (greater longevity)
- Negative affect and poor health are associated with each other

Question 14

Social support attributes

Answer 14

Provides emotional aid and tangible aid.
Direct Effect: people more likely to comply with treatment when they have social support
Indirect Effect: social support system leads to positive feeling, which leads to positive emotionality
Important to have someone who can be a friend and a confidant. Quality over quantity of friends matters
Impact of Internet: screen contact vs. face-to-face contact (in-person thought to be more beneficial than online for well-being)
Pets: oxytocin released in people and pet’s brains when you engage in petting them!

Question 15

Restorative nature experiences

Answer 15

Spending time appreciating nature (savoring the sounds of nature, the view, etc.) can help with attention, problem solving, increase sense of vitality and connectedness
“Forest-bathing” reduces stress and BP
Can just be relaxing in the park, does not have to include physical activity like hiking

Question 16

Love attributes

Answer 16

1. Touch: release of oxytocin, massage as a form of improved health, reducing pain
2. Compassion: observing acts of compassion can increase your immune system functioning and inspire you to act compassionately
3. Altruism: helping others selflessly, volunteering can benefit psychological well-being. Helping other people can help break the cycle of rumination (downward social comparisons can play a role)

Question 17

Humor attributes

Answer 17

1. Psychological well-being: having a sense of humor can help with your personal adjustment and cope with stress more constructively.
2. Physical health: good sense of humor can increase the function of the immune system, lower morbidity, decrease pain.
3. State vs. trait: some people are naturally humorous, while others use it more situationally. Even if it’s not your signature strength, you can work on incorporating more humor into your life and seek out more opportunities to laugh!

Question 18

Music attributes

Answer 18

1. Enhances health and well-being: increases positive affect, reduces blood pressure, reduces stress
2. Neurochemical processes of music: Activates reward/pleasure centers in the brain (depends on music genre), reduces stress/arousal, increases immune system functioning. Listening to music can be social, can build social affiliations

Question 19

Emotional expression attributes

Answer 19

1. Writing about traumatic events is beneficial!
   Express both negative affect and positive affect
   Helps you organize and clarify the event for yourself, takes a load off of your cognitive resources and allows you to process and deal with it differently than speaking about it. (More beneficial for people who are naturally emotionally expressive)
2. Regrets over:
   Actions - things you did that you regret. Typically short term, related to embarrassment, anger, etc.
   Inactions - things you didn’t do that you regret. “Why didn’t I…?” Typically long-term. People tend to have more regrets about things involving their social relationships than individual things.
3. Crying:
   Tears of hurt: some people benefit from this more than others, people that are more extraverted seem to gain more benefit than people who are not.
   Tears of joy: can help with emotional regulation when you are feeling “big” emotions. Women are more likely to express tears of joy

Question 20

Cognition attributes

Answer 20

1. Optimism: have more health benefits than pessimistic people
   Optimists have a quicker illness recovery time
   There are some possible dangers of being too optimistic (risk-taking behaviors, not adhering to medication, etc.)
2. Perceived control is related to health benefits
   - Internal locus of control: Perceive yourself as in control of your actions, associated with more health benefits.
   - External locus of control: Learned helplessness, associated with decreased health benefits.
   Placebo response: one group takes a sugar pill and one takes the actual meds, and both groups get better because the group taking the sugar pill believes it is the real medication. There’s no reason for getting better other than the mind-body connection. May trigger release of natural painkillers
3. Self-efficacy: belief in yourself as capable of accomplishing goals. Can benefit pain management and adherence to health programs

Question 21

Hardiness

Answer 21

A combination of three cognitive factors involved with how people interpret life events.
1. Control: internal locus of control
2. Challenge: rise to the challenge and use it as an opportunity to learn and grow
3. Commitment: follow through on the challenge
Interventions exist to help people gain hardiness skills

Question 22

Mindfulness meditation associations

Answer 22

Linked to increased:

• Subjective well-being
• Immune response
• Gray matter
• Longevity

Linked to decreased:

• Anxiety & stress
• Chronic pain/inflammation
• Biological aging
• Cardiovascular disease

Question 23

Positive coping

Answer 23

Coping with things in a positive manner.
Daily hassles: day-to-day stressors, more important to look at in terms of your well-being
Focus on external environment and psychological factors.
- Big, major life changes tend to be infrequent, so our reactions to it are not indicative of our typical coping behavior - when those events happen, there tends to be a lot of focus/social support on you (rituals/expectations help offset the stress of those events)

Question 24

Emotion-focused coping

Answer 24

Directed at regulating emotional reactions to a stressor. (Coping mechanism may depend on the problem at hand - for example, with a cancer dx you may not be able to use problem-focused coping.) Exercise, take a bath, give yourself a pep talk, meditate. Women may be more likely to engage in emotion-focused coping.

Question 25

Problem-focused coping

Answer 25

Dealing with the problem at hand through active behavior and/or cognitive strategies. Work on time management, ask for support, establish healthy boundaries, create a to-do list, re-frame thoughts about problem. Men may be more likely to engage in problem-focused coping.

Question 26

Emotional avoidance

Answer 26

Involves avoiding or distracting from the emotion/problem at hand. Least productive coping mechanism

Question 27

Fitness triad

Answer 27

Exercise, sleep and diet. Foundational to physical and mental health!

Question 28

Longevity associations

Answer 28

• Positive emotions
• Autonomy
• Competence
• Relationships*
• Mindfulness
• Positive coping
• Sense of purpose
• Optimism
• View of aging

Question 29

Adaptive competence

Answer 29

And ability to bounce back from setbacks and stress to adapt to aging with optimism and humor.

Question 30

Blue zone characteristics

Answer 30

1. Physically active
2. Sense of purpose
3. Downshifted/decreased stress daily
4. Eat until 80% full
5. More fruits/vegetables than meat
6. Moderate alcohol consumption
7. Faith-based community belonging
8. Prioritize family and social connections
9. Sharing supportive social circles/friends

Question 31

Blue zones

Answer 31

Places on earth where people live the longest!

Question 32

Danner et al. 2001 study summary (The Nun Study)

Answer 32

Study of emotional expression and longevity with 180 nuns who wrote autobiographies early in life, used coders to rate autobiographies for +/- and neutral emotion.
Analysis 1: Negative association between percentile ranking of # of + sentences in autobiographies and risk of late-life mortality (more + sentences associated with lower mortality risk), no link w/ negative or neutral sentences.
Analysis 2: Negative association between quartile ranking of # of + sentences in autobiographies and mortality rate. Risk of death increased as # of + sentences decreased.
Analysis 3: Strong association between quartile ranking of # of + sentences and survival. Nuns who expressed the most positive emotion had the highest median age of death/lived the longest! The happiest nuns lived about 10 years longer than the unhappy nuns.
Analysis 4: Results of analysis 3 remained consistent after controlling for linguistic ability, education, and occupation.
Conclusions: Health benefits and longevity come from early life positive affect. Whether your set point for emotional responses is + or - can determine your longevity and health. Undoing hypothesis shows that positive emotions have an inverse effect on your physical response.