Rewrite of mock exam essay

Positivity leads to better health and a longer life

“ In 2002, Becea Levy, a psychologist at Yale University, collaborated with researchers for the Ohio Longitudinal Study, who have been following ageing in a cohort of people since 1975, and they made a very surprising finding: older people with a more positive attitude toward old age lived seven and a half years longer” (Hall, 2007). The study shows that positivity leads to better health and a longer life. There are two main reasons. One is that positivity leads to less anger and better brain patterns. The other is that positivity leads to less stress and, it helps people to get relaxation.

“Positivity” leads to better health and a longer life because it lets people reduce anger and have good brain patterns. In traditional Chinese medicine, when people are angry, it hurts people’s liver. When people are scared, it hurts people’s gallbladder. When people have positive attitude, they will have better functioning organs less affected by negative emotions like anger, fear or anxiety. The Wisconsin team also reported that the old people who regulated their emotions well had a distinctly different pattern of brain activity to those who did not (Hall, 2007). Such people who have good brain patterns have better emotional control and better health.

In addition, positivity leads people to less stress and makes people relax more. When people have a positive attitude towards life, they will be less stressed when they encounter difficulties. In today’s society, stress comes from everywhere: study, work, family… Because of stress, many people hurt themselves or even commit suicides. They don’t have the positive attitude, and thus, they hurt themselves during a fit of depression. Many people prefer to live in the country with beautiful natural scenery when they are old because they can get relaxation. Not everyone can have the condition, but with the positive attitude, they can relax everywhere and have better health. They relax in order to regulate negative emotion and, thus, have better health and longer life.

To sum up, study shows “positivity” has the effects that lead to better health and a longer life. One reason is that positivity leads to less anger and good brain patterns. The other reason is that positivity lets people be less stressful in life and relax better. With the two reasons, “positivity” gives us better health and longer life.