Welcome to the positive corner of the internet. Every weekday, we make sense of the confusing world of wellness by analyzing the headlines, simplifying the latest research, and offering quick tips designed to make you healthier in less than 5 minutes. If you were forwarded this message, you can get the free daily email here.
Today’s Health Upgrade
The upside of optimism
Oh Sh!t
Can Vitamin D brighten your mood?
Workout of the week
Arnold’s Podcast
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Mindset
The Upside Of Optimism
If you ever needed a reason to buy into our mission to create the “positive corner of the internet,” this might be it.
Research on more than 230,000 people found that optimism is linked to a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality, making it a simple yet powerful predictor of better health and longevity.
In fact, scientists found that optimistic people have a 35 percent lower risk of cardiovascular events compared to the least optimistic individuals. And they also had a 15 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality.
Shifting your mindset away from negativity can be the first domino that leads to better behaviors.
Optimistic individuals are more likely to exercise, eat healthfully, and avoid smoking. And a positive outlook appeared to lower levels of chronic stress, a key driver of inflammation and heart disease.
And benefits of optimism hold up even after accounting for age, socioeconomic status, and preexisting health conditions, suggesting optimism itself is a powerful predictor of health.
If you need a place to start, here are five ways to be more optimistic.
Practice Gratitude: It can be as simple as reflecting on three things you’re grateful for each day.
Manage The Controllables: When faced with challenges, reframe your thoughts to focus on what you can control and how you can grow from the experience.
Spend Time with Positive People: Optimism is contagious. Surround yourself with people who uplift and inspire you.
Set Goals and Celebrate Progress: Having meaningful goals gives you purpose and reinforces positive thinking as you achieve milestones, big or small. It’s important to celebrate your success each week.
Prioritize “You Time”: Practices like mindfulness, therapy, or journaling can help shift your mindset toward optimism.
Optimism isn’t just about feeling good—it’s about living better and longer. Science proves that a positive outlook can protect your heart, improve your resilience, and add years to your life. The best part? Optimism is a skill you can develop — starting today.
Fitness
How Profanity Can Improve Your Workouts
Ever let out a four-letter word mid-workout? Turns out, it’s not just cathartic—it might make you stronger.
New research suggests swearing can enhance physical performance, increasing strength, power, speed, and muscular endurance during high-intensity efforts.
Scientists reviewed nearly 20 studies analyzing the direct influence of profanity on performance and other studies that analyzed mechanisms that might explain how shouting obscenities can give you a boost.
The studies found that swearing before or during exercise can improve grip strength by 10 percent, help you do 15 percent more pushups, increase muscular endurance by up to 22 percent, and even increase cycling output by nearly 5 percent.
From a physiological standpoint, swearing appears to help you increase your pain tolerance, pain threshold, and pain perception, meaning you can push harder and fight off fatigue.
A well-placed swear word triggers emotional and physiological arousal, like an adrenaline boost, where your heart beats faster, and your sympathetic nervous system is given a charge, which enhances focus and energy just enough to help you perform better.
The studies even found that dropping a swear word could boost self-confidence and reduce inhibition, allowing you to break mental barriers, focus purely on the task, and put in greater effort and motivation.
But don’t just drop an F-bomb; there has to be an intention, and it doesn’t work for all exercises. It appears profanity is most effective when used sparingly on short, intense tasks such as lifting weights or sprinting. It’s a reminder that mental toughness doesn’t always require grit; sometimes, it just takes a little expression.
Health
Can Vitamin D Brighten Your Mood?
Vitamin D has been touted as a health hero, but the research has been all over the place. Some studies say it helps; others aren’t so sure. Now, a new meta-analysis suggests that vitamin D supplementation might offer some surprising mental health benefits for certain people.
A review of 31 studies and more than 24,000 participants found that Vitamin D might help boost mood and fight against depression.
Vitamin D supplementation led to a small but significant reduction in depressive symptoms, with stronger effects observed in those with vitamin D deficiency. The impact was dose-dependent, meaning higher doses (within safe limits) yielded better results.
For every 1,000 IU of Vitamin D — in people both with and without depression — appeared to reduce depressive symptoms slightly. But, the effect was more significant for those who suffered from Vitamin D deficiency and more prominent in those who struggled with depression.
Interestingly, the most significant reduction occurred at 8,000 IU per day — but that might be too high if you’re not deficient. Also, Vitamin D supplementation for less than 24 weeks was more effective than longer than 24 weeks, suggesting that supporting Vitamin D deficiency is more a short-term solution than a longer-term approach to depression.
It’s worth mentioning that supplementation was more effective when paired with traditional treatments like therapy or antidepressants rather than a standalone fix.
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
