​Can a Bad Attitude Make You Sick?

Science has long recognized that excessive anger contributes to high blood pressure, high levels of physical stress, and increased risk of heart attack and heart disease - not to mention broken dishes and lots of eye rolling by your family. But what about a garden-variety bad attitude of the glass-half-empty variety? Well, physicians have only recently begun to recognize the effects that plain old negativity can have on your physical well-being. You don't have to be a stomper, yeller, or door-slammer to suffer the effects of a less-than-happy attitude. Even whiners, grumblers, complainers, and Debbie Downers may be causing more of their own physical ailments than they realize.

Your Emotions are Directly Related to Your Physical Condition

That's right — every emotion you experience can affect your body as well as your mind in some small way. And spending years dwelling on bad emotions like unhappiness, dissatisfaction, jealousy, and of course anger, can begin to wear down your body as well as your mind.

These negative emotions alter the balance of hormones in your body, which start to tear down your body's natural defenses, making you more susceptible to colds, headaches, seasonal allergies, and other minor aches and pains. Repressed negative emotions can also cause gastrointestinal problems, while unchecked stress can actually make you appear to age faster and shorten your lifespan.

Changing Your Emotions Can Make You Feel Better

The one major difference between people with bad attitudes and those who are generally positive is their perception of their circumstances. Changing the way you think about your life can turn your frown upside down. Negativity is ultimately a choice.

Like any skill, developing and maintaining a positive attitude takes practice. Experts across the board — in both traditional and alternative fields — suggest that daily gratitude can make a vast improvement in your overall attitude. Expressing gratitude can be as simple as making a list of things you are grateful for every day. Yes, you may be stuck in rush hour traffic, but hey! At least you own a car and aren't forced to take the bus every day, plus it gives you time to listen to your favorite CD or a fascinating segment on NPR.

Another proven way to shift your negative thinking into positivity is to practicing forgiveness on a regular basis. The jerk who cut you off? Maybe he's on his way to the hospital to say goodbye to his dying grandma. Or maybe he's just a jerk. You don't know, so you shouldn't judge. Let yourself think, "what a jerk!" and then forgive him and let karma take care of the rest. It feels really good!

On the other hand, if you don't practice having a positive attitude, your brain will eventually start making fewer and fewer of the chemicals that you need to be happy. The longer you go without being positive, the harder it will be to become a positive person.

Taking the First Steps to a Healthier, More Positive You

Whether you are an active career person or a stay-at-home parent, whether you make millions or float just above the poverty level, you are in charge of your own attitude. Taking a look at the things and people that influence you can have a major impact on your attitude. From the music you hear and the movies you watch to the people that you spend the most time with, keeping your influences more positive than negative can help you feel better.

There are some practical physical things you can do to boost your mood, as well. A healthy diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, and lean meats can create a healthy physical environment for your positive mood to flourish in. Drink plenty of water and green tea and snack on raisins, peanuts, and other healthy foods rather than fatty potato chips or snack cakes.

Keeping both your workspace and your living space free of clutter can help clear your mind as well, leading to a more positive attitude. And, of course, exercise and laughter are two surefire ways to raise your levels of serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphines, the happy hormones that your body makes naturally.

So, SMILE and think happy thoughts to start!