Talk about mind over matter. We all know that eating a balanced diet, getting regular exercise and managing our stress (and intake of alcohol) are the keys to a long, healthy life. But there’s a growing body of research that suggests there may be a less obvious factor that can influence cardiovascular health: optimism.

Several well-regarded studies have linked having a sunnier outlook on life to a lower risk of heart disease, stroke and premature death. In 2021, the American Heart Association released a scientific statement on the mind-heart-body connection, explaining that psychological well-being is an important factor in cardiovascular health.

In fact, one recent study found that a regular optimistic outlook can extend your lifespan by 11 to 15%, on average, and is associated with greater odds of living to age 85 or older. So, what is it about optimism that benefits our health and helps us live longer?

More than simply “looking on the brightside,” optimism is “the pattern/tendency to anticipate positive outcomes for future events,” says Christina Ni, MD, board-certified psychiatrist and. Additionally, optimism has ties to resilience. “Optimists have improved ability to work through stressful situations and to manage stress regulation,” Ni says. That makes sense. You’d tend to take better care of yourself when you believe that good things coming down the line.

The good news is that even if you’re not a natural optimist, there are things you can do to reap the benefits of optimistic thinking to help protect your heart. Researchers recently found that “positive psychology interventions”—including gratitude exercises, optimism training and mindfulness-based practice —are associated with consistent improvements in cardiovascular risk factors and health behaviors.

President Trump's summit with Xi Jinping was staged as a reunion between old friends, concluding Friday with a private tour of Zhongnanhai, the Chinese Communist Party’s secretive leadership compound. Strolling the gardens, Trump declared the blooms around him “the most beautiful roses anyone has ever seen.” Xi promised to send him some seeds. The warm public choreography of the past two days has masked a stubborn reality: nearly every force shaping U.S.-China relations is pulling them apart.

But Trump told Fox News “we’ve made some fantastic trade deals” and that China had committed to buying 200 Boeing jets. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer added the U.S. expects China to commit to at least $10 billion in annual U.S. agricultural purchases over the next three years, on top of existing soybean commitments. Trump also said that Xi pledged China would not supply Iran with military equipment.

Xi, meanwhile, had a much older rivalry on his mind, referencing the “Thucydides Trap” in their own relations. The academic term, reflects a deeper concern shaping modern geopolitics at the moment. “The idea is that when an established, great power is met with a rising power, conflict between the two is certainly likely if not inevitable,” said Daniel Sutton, a classicist at the University of Cambridge told the New York Times.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that patients can, for now, continue to access by mail the most commonly used abortion pill, handing anti-abortion advocates a defeat in their push to restrict medication abortion. The justices paused a decision by a U.S. appeals court that had reinstated a requirement that patients pick up mifepristone in person. The justices did not explain their reasoning, but the decision came over the objections of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.

Mifepristone is part of a typical two-drug combination for medication abortions, which have become the most common way of ending pregnancies in the United States. Abortion rights advocates cheered the stay but cautioned that long-term access isn’t secured yet.

But since the end of Roe, the number of abortions performed each year has actually increased. Of the roughly 1.1 million abortions that took place in 2025, 300,000 were provided via telehealth, a 25% increase from the year before, according to data from the Society of Family Planning, a group that supports abortion rights.