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Positive emotions may increase anti-inflammatory cytokines

Emotions such as joy, awe and pride may lead to increases in anti-inflammatory cytokines, according to recent study results.

“Our findings demonstrate that positive emotions are associated with the markers of good health,” Jennifer E. Stellar, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Toronto, said in a press release.

Jennifer E. Stellar

Stellar and colleagues from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Pittsburgh conducted two separate studies to determine if positive emotions were linked with reduced levels of inflammatory cytokines.

The first study included 94 college freshmen who participated for credit in a psychology class. The second, a multisession longitudinal study, included 105 freshmen who were paid.

Participants in the first study provided a sample of oral mucosal transudate (OMT) and answered background questionnaires. Students in the second study answered questions and provided OMT during follow-up.

In both studies, participants were asked to rank how often they experienced positive and negative emotions during the previous month. The second study also assessed participants’ Dispositional Positive Emotions (DPES) and the Big Five Personality Inventory (BFI), which determined which emotions were more likely to lead to increases in anti-inflammatory cytokines and how their personalities may have contributed to the results.

Positive emotions in the first study negatively predicted interleukin-6 (IL-6) when controlling for BMI (P = .004) and similar results were determined in the second study (P = .04).The researchers said “greater trait positive affect predicts lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines.”

The researchers indicated awe was the most likely of positive emotions to impact IL-6 (P = .007).

“Awe is associated with curiosity and a desire to explore, suggesting antithetical behavioral responses to those found during inflammation, where individuals typically withdraw from others in their environment,” Stellar said in the release. – by Ryan McDonald

Disclosure: The research was supported by John Templeton Foundation grants.