What is driving optimism’s association with reduced risk for cardiovascular disease?

Laura Kubzansky, a Harvard Pop Center faculty member and co-director of the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness, is an author on a paper that analyzes the relationship between optimism and healthy behaviors, such as exercising, eating fruits and vegetables, and not smoking cigarettes; is it that optimistic people engage in healthier behaviors and that is what is reducing their risk for cardiovascular disease and related mortality?