Positive Attitude, Stronger Immunity
(from energytimes.com)

APRIL 2010�Taking a sunny view of life may give your immune system a noticeable boost, according to study results published recently in Psychological Science.

A research team at the University of Kentucky surveyed 124 first-year law students on topics such as their success in school and how optimistic they generally felt. The students also received antigen injections that resulted in a bump on the skin, which indicated an immune-system response; stronger reactions produced bigger bumps. The immune response became more powerful in individual students as they felt more optimistic over time and less powerful as they became more pessimistic.

The scientists note that the study doesn�t prove the link between optimism and well-being. However, it does suggest that �a single person, with the same personality and genes, has different immune function when he or she feels more or less optimistic,� says lead author Suzanne Segerstrom, a professor in the university�s psychology department.

What�s more, people who felt more optimistic �also felt more happy, attentive and joyous, and that accounted for some of the relationship between optimism and immunity,� Segerstrom says.

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