Optimistic? Your Asthma Might Improve, Study Says

WEDNESDAY, July 9, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Want your asthma to improve? Cultivate a positive outlook, researchers say.

An asthma patient’s level of optimism or pessimism can influence how their symptoms progress, a new study says.

People who expect their asthma and health to get worse wind up reporting more symptoms over time, researchers reported recently in the journal Health Expectations.

This wasn’t just in patient’s heads, either. Negative expectations were associated with a greater decline in actual lung function, researchers found.

On the other hand, people optimistic about their outlook experienced a slower progression of their asthma, results show.