Women who are optimistic have a lower risk of heart disease and death, an American study shows.

The latest study by US investigators mirrors the findings of earlier work by a Dutch team showing optimism reduces heart risk in men.

The research on nearly 100,000 women, published in the journal Circulation, found pessimists had higher blood pressure and cholesterol.

Even taking these risk factors into account, attitude alone altered risks.

Optimistic women had a 9% lower risk of developing heart disease and a 14% lower risk of dying from any cause after more than eight years of follow-up.

In comparison, cynical women who harboured hostile thoughts about others or were generally mistrusting of others were 16% more likely to die over the same time scale.

One possibility is that optimists are better at coping with adversity, and may, for example take better care of themselves when they do fall ill.

In the study, the optimistic women exercised more and were leaner than pessimistic peers.

Lead researcher Dr Hilary Tindle, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, said: "The majority of evidence suggests that sustained, high degrees of negativity are hazardous to health."

A spokeswoman for the British Heart Foundation said: "We know that hostile emotions can release certain chemicals in the body which may increase the risk of heart disease, but we don't fully understand how and why.

"Optimistic or hostile attitudes can be linked to health behaviours such as smoking or poor diet, which may also influence heart health.

"A good thing for all women is that regardless of your outlook, making healthy choices such as not smoking and eating well, will have much more of an impact on your heart health than your outlook.

"More research is needed to explore how and why these psychological attitudes may affect health."

在美国的一项研究表明，乐观的女性患心脏疾病导致死亡的风险稍低。

美国的最新调查迎合了以前有荷兰队提出的乐观能玩就心脏病的人的观点。

杂志所述，在对100，000位妇女的研究，其中患高血压或胆固醇高的人高发在悲观主义的人身上。

对这些风险的重视程度决定着风险的发作

乐观的妇女有9%的优势避免心脏病的侵袭，而在患病后的8年里死亡的机率占到了14%。

相比之下，多疑的那些妇女，经常隐藏对别人的敌意，16%的人更容易在相同的时间内死亡。

另一个可能性是乐观主义者能够更正确的应付逆境，例如，当他们自己生病是他能够照顾自己。

研究表明，乐观的女性锻炼得多，而且比悲观的人瘦的多。

匹斯堡大学药学专业的助理教授，主要研究员Hilary Tindle博士说：“多数的实践证明持续高度的消极状态会加大死亡的风险。”

英国心脏基金会的一位女性发言人说：“我们知道怀有敌意的情绪能够释放身体内的某些化学物质这样会加大心脏疾病的危险，但是我们还不能完全的清楚为什么”

乐观或者敌对情绪也能与健康的情绪有联系，例如吸烟与不健康的饮食也会影响心脏的健康。

对所有的女性来说，不顾及前景怎样，做健康的选择，例如不吸烟，吃得好点，这些对你的心脏健康的的影响生于你的前途

为什么会有这样的心理需要更多的研究。