Happy People May Have More Immunities To Common Cold

People who are energetic, happy and relaxed are less likely to catch colds, while those who are depressed, nervous or angry are more likely to complain about cold symptoms, whether or not they get bitten by the cold bug, according to a recent study.

Study participants who had a positive emotional style weren't infected as often and experienced fewer symptoms compared to people with a negative emotional style, say Sheldon Cohen, Ph.D., of Carnegie Mellon University and colleagues, writing in the July issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

Cohen's team interviewed 334 healthy volunteers three evenings a week for two weeks to assess their emotional states. The volunteers described how they felt that day in three positive-emotion areas: vigor, well-being and calm. They were also questioned about three categories of negative feelings: depression, anxiety and hostility.

Other scientists have speculated that people who typically report experiencing negative emotions are at greater risk for disease and those who report positive emotions have less risk, says Cohen.

After their assessment, each volunteer got a squirt in the nose of a rhinovirus -- the germ that causes colds. The researchers kept the subjects under observation for five days to see whether or not they became infected and how they manifested symptoms.

"We found that experiencing positive emotions was associated with greater resistance to developing a common cold," Cohen reports. "Increases in positive emotional styles were linked with decreases in the rate of clinical colds, but a negative emotional style had no effect on whether or not people got sick."

A positive emotional style actually had no effect on how often volunteers were infected (as measured by replication of the virus) but produced fewer signs and symptoms of the illness, says Cohen. This suggests that inflammatory chemicals produced by the body may link the positive emotional style with colds.

Further analysis revealed that good health practices and lower levels of certain hormones did not account for the link between positive emotional style and illness.

Since the average person catches two to five colds a year, developing psychological risk profiles and considering ways to enhance positive emotion might reduce the risk of colds -- and by extension, other infectious diseases.

The study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health.

TUESDAY, July 22 (HealthDayNews) -- Want to stay healthy? Then put on a happy face.

Researchers have found that people who have more positive emotions, such as happiness and calmness, have fewer colds than glum people.

"We found that people high on positive emotional style were less likely to develop colds than people who were low," says study author Sheldon Cohen, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

And, he adds, "as positive emotions increase, the probability that they would develop a cold decreased." So, as you get happier and more relaxed, your chances of catching a cold are reduced even further.

"Laughter really is the best medicine," says psychiatrist Dr. Gerald Shiener of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. "Good mental health precedes good physical health."

For the study, Cohen and his colleagues recruited 334 healthy volunteers. They were between the ages of 18 and 54, with an average age of 29. One hundred and seventy-five of the volunteers were women.

At the start of the study, all of the volunteers were tested to make sure none had colds. They were then interviewed by phone three nights a week for two weeks. The researchers asked them to rate on a scale of zero to four how closely a particular emotion described how they had felt during the day. The nine positive emotions were: lively, full of pep, energetic, happy, pleased, cheerful, at ease, calm and relaxed. The nine negative emotions were: sad, depressed, unhappy, on edge, nervous, tense, hostile, resentful and angry.

The researchers then averaged the emotions from all of the interviews. People who scored high on positive emotions were said to have a positive emotional style, while people who scored high on negative emotions had a negative emotional style.

For the last week of the study, the participants were quarantined. Using nasal drops, the researchers placed a virus that causes the common cold into the volunteers' noses, and then monitored them for signs of infection and symptoms of a cold for five days.

People with positive emotional style weren't less likely to be infected with the cold germs. However, they were less likely to show any symptoms of being ill than people who scored low in positive emotional style, the researchers say.

Having a negative emotional style didn't increase the risk of getting sick, but these people tended to complain more about the symptoms they did have.

Cohen says the researchers also found people with positive emotional style had better health habits, such as exercising, eating well and getting enough sleep, and they had lower levels of three stress hormones. He says the researchers controlled for these factors and still found an association between positive emotions and fewer cold symptoms.

He explains that chemical mediators, such as histamine and pro-inflammatory cytokines, are responsible for cold symptoms. And he suspects positive emotions may dampen the production of these mediators.

So, can the power of positive thinking keep you healthy? Maybe, says Cohen, but he cautions that this study couldn't define if the people who scored high in positive emotions during this study have always been happy people, or if they were simply in a good period of their lives during the research.

Shiener says he believes people can make themselves happier. He adds that it's important that you don't keep your emotions bottled up and that you take time to do things you enjoy.

"Stress and emotions do affect our immune responses," says Shiener. "If we're comfortable and happy, then we'll live longer and healthier lives."

SOURCES: Sheldon Cohen, Ph.D., professor, psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh; Gerald Shiener, M.D., psychiatrist, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Mich.; July 2003 Psychosomatic Medicine

However, Dr Sheldon Cohen and colleagues found that a positive emotional style had no effect on how often volunteers were infected.

Researchers from Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University interviewed 334 healthy volunteers three evenings a week over a fortnight to assess their emotional state.

They were asked about emotional areas, including vigour, well-being and calm, and questioned about negative feelings such as depression, anxiety and hostility. Following their assessment, each volunteer received a squirt in the nose of rhinovirus – the germ that causes colds.

The researchers kept the subjects under observation for five days to assess whether or not they became infected and how their symptoms manifested themselves.

They found that a positive emotional style had no effect on how often volunteers were infected, but people with this characteristic showed fewer signs and symptoms of the illness.

“We found that experiencing positive emotions was associated with greater resistance to developing a common cold,” said Dr Cohen.

“Increases in positive emotional styles were linked with decreases in the rate of clinical colds, but a negative emotional style had no effect on whether or not people got sick.”

Further analysis by the researchers found that good health practices and lower levels of certain hormones did not account for the link between positive emotional style and illness.

Source: Psychosomatic Medicine

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