Women’s Health Blog at the Women’s Center in Orlando: “Your bad traits may not be so bad after all”

August 29, 2011

Women’s Health Blog: Your Bad Traits May Not Be So Bad After All.

Ever thought that your negativity and pessimism would be considered “good traits”? Our bad traits can actually be beneficial in some situations according to Bryan Gibson, professor of social psychology at Central Michigan University.

Here are five traits that can actually help you reduce or prevent stress, obesity, and other diseases.

Negativity: Remember how we are always asked to remain positive? Positivity breeds success, blah, blah? Well researchers think that pessimism can help prevent future problems according a professor of psychology at Wellesley College, Julie Norem. (Professor Norem has also written a book “The Positive Power of Negative Thinking”.)

Cursing: Ah cursing! How many times have we heard that “swearing is crass”? Now researchers believe that cursing allows the body to copy with pain and stress in a crisis

Doodling: Doodling is for people who can’t focus, right? Wrong! Dooling, it appears can improve the ability of our minds to remember mundane information by almost 30 percent. Researchers from the University of Plymouth state that when we doodle, we use our brain’s visuospacial processes. These processes are normally used for daydreaming but allow the brain to prevent wandering when used during doodling.

Procrastination: Lazy, unable to finish things on time, etc. are all the labels given to someone who procrastinates. But now it appears that by putting off work for a bit to take a nap, surf the web, check Facebook statuses, etc. can make a person approximately 10 percent more productive than those who don’t.

Gossip: Old wives gossip; Gossip is bad form; Gossiping is for immature people, etc. etc. Well, not anymore! Non-malicious gossip is good for forming better friendships and making your “moral compass” stronger.

Anger: Anger is considered to be unhealthy cause it raise blood pressure and creates conflict. But Jennifer Lerner, director of the Harvard Decision Science Laboratory states that by showing anger in situations that are unfair or wrong can actually be good for the body. As long as the anger is not a chronic anger, by getting angry in situations that warrant some good old anger, our body releases cortisol, the stress hormone which can cause depression, obesity, and bone loss.

So go ahead and show your negativity, curse when that hammer hits your thumb instead of the nail, show anger when the dry cleaner loses your best pair of pants, and enjoy some juicy gossip about what’s happening with Brangelina.

As for me, I’m going to go ahead and procrastinate before I decide what else to blog about.