A Fighting Spirit Won’t Save Your Life

[Guest guest]

Although modern doctors have rejected those beliefs, in the past 20

years, the medical literature has increasingly included studies

examining the possibility that positive characteristics like optimism,

spirituality and being a compassionate person are associated with good

health. And books on the health benefits of happiness and positive

outlook continue to be best sellers.

But there's no evidence to back up the idea that an upbeat attitude

can prevent any illness or help someone recover from one more readily.

On the contrary, a recently completed study of nearly 60,000 people

in Finland and Sweden who were followed for almost 30 years found no

significant association

<http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/172/4/377.abstract> between

personality traits and the likelihood of developing or surviving

cancer. Cancer doesn't care if we're good or bad, virtuous or

vicious, compassionate or inconsiderate. Neither does heart disease or

AIDS or any other illness or injury.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/opinion/25sloan.html?_r=2

<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/opinion/25sloan.html?_r=2>