Researchers in Europe discovered a unique independent relationship between positive emotions and coronary heart disease, for the first time ever. Appearing in the latest issue of the leading cardiology publication European Heart Journal, the study shows that happiness, content and enthusiasm are among the emotions that may be tied to a much better level of health, regardless of age and gender. The new, major review showed that happier people tend to experience a lot less hearth problems that those who spent less time laughing or feeling good.

According to scientists involved in the new observational investigation, the conclusions were produced only by looking at how people evolved over time. But the leader of the work, Dr Karina Davidson, an expert at the Columbia University Medical Center, says that the results could in the near future inform physicians on developing new approaches to safeguarding people from the risk of developing heart conditions. The scientist adds that more studies are needed on the issue, before medical recommendations can be given by experts without any risks

“We desperately need rigorous clinical trials in this area. If the trials support our findings, then these results will be incredibly important in describing specifically what clinicians and/or patients could do to improve health,” she explains. Davidson is the director of the CUMC Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, as well as the Herbert Irving associate professor of medicine and psychiatry at the university. This latest study was conducted on 1,739 healthy adults, over a period of about ten years. All the 862 men and the 977 females in the investigation were a part of the 1995 Nova Scotia Health Survey, PhysOrg reports.

“Participants with no positive affect were at a 22% higher risk of ischaemic heart disease (heart attack or angina) than those with a little positive affect, who were themselves at 22% higher risk than those with moderate positive affect. We also found that if someone, who was usually positive, had some depressive symptoms at the time of the survey, this did not affect their overall lower risk of heart disease. As far as we know, this is the first prospective study to examine the relationship between clinically-assessed positive affect and heart disease,” Davidson concludes.