How do you perceive it – the glass is half empty or half full. Your answer will help to determine whether you are prone to a heart disease or not. People with a positive frame of mind usually have less risk of heart attacks. On the contrary, the negative emotions of sadness, anger and aggression are the enemies of your heart.

Negative feelings are the major risk factors for heart attack, while happiness and positive attitude seem to look after your heart.

Your positive attitude can be defined as your experience of enjoyable feelings such as happiness, enthusiasm and satisfaction. An individual, who is usually positive, has overall lower risk of heart diseases. Many researchers, have established that positive emotions help to award long-term safeguards to a person against heart diseases. The positive attitude influences your sleeping patterns positively and controls your heart rate.

People with positive attitudes enjoy longer periods of rest and relaxation and they recover more speedily from stress.

You will be amazed to know that the researchers have found that the happiest people are 22% less prone to develop a heart disease than people who are often found in the whirlpool of negative emotions.

There are several possible reasons, how happiness can protect your heart:

• Happy people follow healthier lifestyle. They sleep better, eat better, do physical exercises and smoke less. They take care of themselves and treat themselves kindly.
• Happiness produces several positive chemical changes in the human body such as reduction in stress hormones.

So, if you too don’t want to be a victim of a heart attack, learn the art of being happy!  Start by looking in a mirror and pasting the biggest grin you can onto your face. Keep looking and keep grinning … you will probably find yourself laughing within minutes.