Link to article: [news.bbc.co.uk]

BBC NEWS
Negative thoughts 'make you ill'

Having negative thoughts really could make you more illness-prone, say scientists.

A study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences links "negative" brain activity with a weakened immune system.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied people with high levels of brain activity in a region linked to negative thoughts.

Those with the highest activity levels responded worse to a flu vaccine.

Scientists already knew that pessimists - people rated as more sensitive to negative events - show more activity in a part of the brain called the right pre-frontal cortex.

More activity in the left pre-frontal cortex is linked to positive emotional responses.

Happy thoughts

Dr Richard Davidson, who led the research, studied 52 people aged between 57 and 60.

Each of them was asked to recall one event which made them feel very happy, and one which left them feeling sad, afraid or angry.

The electrical activity in these parts of the brain was measured to check whether their left or right pre-frontal cortex was more active.

Afterwards, each volunteer was given a standard flu vaccine shot.

Vaccines work by eliciting an immune response which should hopefully persist and help the body tackle a genuine infection threat if it should arrive.

Each research subject was tested over the following six months to gauge the success of the vaccine by measuring the levels of antibodies generated by the vaccine.

Those who had shown the most powerful right pre-frontal cortex activity also had the worst immune reactions.

The reverse was true for those who had the most powerful reactions in their left pre-frontal cortex, the side associated with happy reactions.

Dr Davidson said: "Emotions play an important role in modulating bodily systems that influence our health.

"We turned to the brain to understand the mechanisms by which the mind influences the body."

Published: 2003/09/01 23:03:03 GMT

ah ha! television really IS making people sick! all those sick murder shows are killing people slowly.

Yes! What is with the obsession with murder and death on television?

<<Yes! What is with the obsession with murder and death on television?>>

i have no idea whatsoever
seeing a bucket of blood splattered everywhere does NOT turn me on

but apparently it turns on 85% of Americans since these movies are being bought and sold like hot cakes ( SAD people mostly, i imagine would buy these drippy worthless hotcakes

then again, there does HAPPEN to be a few good movies like... uh... well... i'll remember ....

just can't seem to recall a REALLY good one right now.. hmmm....

give me some time, i'm SURE there must be at least ONE movie i liked..

what WAS it? ( oh yeah, the latest,, pretty absurd wacky zany movie.. was Ping Pong)

though i know there were other movies that were MUCH better... but INCREDIBLY.. this is the only movie that comes to my mind now LOL !


well, at least that didn't have red blood cells oozing out of people's epidermal cells

i'll give them one point for THAT much

plus it was sort of funny too

oh... but there were better films.. why can't i think of ONE? ( LOL)

the grinch, the new one, was on tonight. little and i watched and got a kick out of the special effects. he said "eww, yuck!" to the carving of the 'roast beast' at dinner though. you should have seen the look on his face, priceless!