Happy, healthy, and wise?Happy people are less likely to catch colds. When they do go "achoo," they don't suffer as much as their grumpy counterparts, a new study has found. Sheldon Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. , a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University, at Pittsburgh, Pa.; est. 1967 through the merger of the Carnegie Institute of Technology (founded 1900, opened 1905) and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research (founded 1913). in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, surveyed 193 volunteers and characterized the extent to which each was emotionally positive or negative. Then he used nasal drops to infect them with either a cold-causing rhinovirus rhinovirus Any of a group of picornaviruses capable of causing common colds in humans. The virus is thought to be transmitted to the upper respiratory tract by airborne droplets. or flu-causing influenza virus influenza virus n. Any of three viruses of the genus Influenzavirus designated type A, type B, and type C, that cause influenza and influenzalike infections. , and observed who got sick. Results: More emotionally positive people are linked to a lower risk of getting ill. When they do get sick, they report fewer symptoms than they actually exhibit. Negative emotions do not increase a person's risk of getting sick; however, they do help crank up ill feelings. "[Emotionally negative volunteers] report more symptoms than you would expect," says Cohen. |
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