September 7, 2026, 8:39 am | Read time: 5 minutes
The coffee spills on the freshly donned blouse, the train leaves right in front of you, and then comes a message you wish you hadn’t read. Sometimes, small things are enough to make the whole day seem ruined. Optimists think differently. They don’t automatically assume that one mishap will be followed by another. This attitude could even benefit their health.
What Optimism Has to Do With the Heart
Optimists experience the same “bad” things as pessimists. The difference lies in how they handle them. They don’t automatically expect things to continue going wrong. This has caught the interest of researchers. A recent 2026 scientific review on positive psychology and cardiovascular health shows that optimism, positive emotions, and emotional vitality are linked to fewer cardiovascular diseases and lower mortality. Methods such as gratitude exercises, optimism training, and mindfulness are also being studied.1 These approaches show improvements in cardiovascular risk factors and health-related behavior.
For short-term physical effects, these studies are typically conducted over eight to twelve weeks. To maintain behavioral changes, a less intensive continuation might be necessary afterward. However, research still has its limits: Many of the studies so far are small, the groups studied are not very diverse, and long-term health effects have not been sufficiently examined.
Also interesting: How a woman ended up in the hospital due to too much happiness
Looking Forward After Setbacks
How an optimistic attitude could make a difference in a particularly challenging health situation is shown by a study published in 2023.2 Researchers followed 879 people over 50 after a stroke. The group of optimistic participants without depression showed the strongest functional recovery in the first three months. Overall, the researchers found a connection between optimism, depression, and the course of recovery.
This doesn’t mean that optimism causes better recovery. However, the researchers point out an interesting aspect: An optimistic attitude often comes with learned behaviors such as problem-solving, coping strategies, and goal setting. These can be applied to everyday life. After a setback, don’t focus solely on what didn’t work. The more interesting question is: What would be a realistic next goal–and what can I do to achieve it?
When Problems Follow You to Bed
That optimism could also be related to our sleep was shown by a 2020 Austrian study with 1,004 people.3 Optimistic participants were about 70 percent less likely to experience sleep disorders or insomnia compared to pessimistic ones. As a possible explanation for the observed connection, the researchers cite better coping strategies and less perceived stress in difficult situations.
One such strategy can be tried: Can you solve this problem tonight? If yes, you can set a next step. If not, the tenth repetition in your head won’t bring a new answer.
Optimism and Stroke Risk
A U.S. study from 2011 goes even further back. The researchers looked at 6,044 adults over 50 who had not had a stroke at the start.4
During the two-year follow-up, 88 strokes occurred. A higher optimism score was associated with a lower risk of stroke. The connection remained even after numerous health, biological, psychological, and sociodemographic factors were statistically accounted for.
Why optimism was linked to this couldn’t be conclusively clarified by the researchers. They mention health behavior as a possible pathway. And there’s something to learn from this: Optimism doesn’t mean trusting that nothing will happen to you. Instead, those who believe their behavior can make a difference might be more willing to actually do something for their health.
Don’t Always Assume the Worst
That pessimism could even be related to blood pressure was investigated by scientists as early as 1999.5 In a study, they looked at optimism, pessimism, anxiety, and the blood pressure of adults in everyday life. Pessimistic and anxious people had higher blood pressure values than optimistic or less anxious people. This doesn’t mean that high blood pressure can simply be thought away positively. More interesting is what we can take from this for our thoughts. The boss suddenly wants to talk? That doesn’t necessarily mean a layoff is coming. A message goes unanswered? There can be numerous explanations for that too. Before a possibility in your head becomes a certainty, a quick reality check helps: What do you really know–and what are you merely fearing?
The Effect of Yogurt on Mental Health
What Alcohol Does to the Bodies of Children and Adolescents
The Immune System Also Reacts to Stress
Another clue was provided as early as 1998 by a study with law students during their first semester. The researchers examined optimism, mood, stress management, and changes in the immune system.6
Optimism was associated with a greater number of T-helper cells and higher activity of natural killer cells. In some of these connections, mood or perceived stress also played a role.
This doesn’t mean that positive thinking automatically boosts the immune system. The interesting point again lies in dealing with stress. If a difficult situation can’t be immediately resolved, you can at least decide where to direct your energy: on the problem itself or on the part you can still influence.
Can Optimism Be Learned?
One crucial question remains: What does all this mean for people who clearly identify as pessimists? There is evidence that optimism can be trained to some extent. One method is the “Best Possible Self” technique. You imagine and write down what your best possible life could look like in the future. Then, it’s about thinking it over and developing realistic goals.7
The current 2026 review also deals with optimism training as well as gratitude and mindfulness exercises. It’s not about waking up one morning as a completely different person. Certain ways of thinking can be deliberately practiced.
However, there is a limit. Those who generally assume that nothing will happen can underestimate risks and sensible precautions. Optimism doesn’t mean glossing over every problem.
The coffee on the blouse can be annoying. Missing the train too. But two bad moments don’t have to make a bad day.