Study links memories with state of health

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
We've all heard the admonishment, "Think happy thoughts." Recent research at the University of Missouri indicates that thinking and writing thoughts down may be one key to good health.
Allure magazine reports that psychologists Chad M. Burton and Laura A. King asked 90 people to write in a journal for 20 minutes a day for three days. During the next three months, those who had written about unemotional topics went for medical treatment five times more often than those who had recounted intensely happy memories.
The memory of negative events may be distressing, but focusing on pleasant ones may provide a boost to the immune system, King told Allure.