An optimistic attitude may help you recover from a heart attack or angina. A feeling of gratitude, however? Not so much. A study of 164 patients recovering from acute coronary events found that initial optimism, measured two weeks after a heart attack or angina, was significantly associated with greater physical activity six months later. Optimists were also less likely to be readmitted to the hospital for cardiac care. Roughly half of participants reported feelings of gratitude, defined as “appreciating and being thankful for people, events and experiences in one’s life,” after surviving a coronary scare. But gratitude was only minimally associated with outcomes over six months. The study was published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
