I was seeing a physical therapist for a shoulder injury in December of 2021. One visit, the therapist was alternating between me and a patient who had a knee replacement.
I eavesdropped on their conversation while the therapist worked on the other patient.
The patient was in pain and anxious to finish the therapy. The therapist was encouraging him.
The patient wanted to quit at one point. The patient agreed to continue after the therapist said they had a short week left.
The therapist offered the patient a perspective on how much therapy remained in a way that sounded shorter, even though it was.
The ability to minimize or exaggerate a situation by simply adding a suffix is one feature of the Spanish language that could contribute to a striking resilience in health that researchers have documented in Hispanic populations in the United States.
Since 1988 I have been involved in research on stress and cardiovascular health at the University of Miami. I joined the Hispanic Community Health Study as an investigator.
The study shows the health of Hispanics in four urban communities in the U.S.
Hispanics in the United States lived longer and had lower rates of heart disease than their non-Hispanic white counterparts were reported to have in the 1980's.
This is despite having a high prevalence of risk factors for heart disease, such as Obesity and Diabetes, and experiencing stress from discrimination and low wages.
More than 600,000 people died from heart disease in the US last year. Genetics and environmental factors such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle and consuming a high fat diet are involved in the causes. These behaviors are linked to heart disease and stroke.
Stress contributes to heart disease.
It's important how people react to stress. It is possible that the extent to which our language facilitates how we process our emotions in response to stress is important in heart disease.
The Spanish language may have an advantage. I believe this to be true because I have lived a bilingual life.
Hispanics have a higher health risk but a lower rate of heart disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hispanics lived on average three years longer than whites.
Researchers have been interested in the cause of resilience for decades. The idea that the Hispanic culture places family over the individual is one of the explanations proposed by them.
When I joined the Hispanic Community Health Study, I became interested in this phenomenon. My first attempt at finding an explanation for the Hispanic Paradox led me to investigate whether the family unit might offer some protection against early life stress.
If the family was a source of resilience, I expected to find low rates of abuse, neglect, or family problems.
The prevalence of these adverse events was high in those populations. 77 percent of the target population reported having at least one adverse childhood event, and 29 percent reported having four or more before the age of 18.
The source of resilience seen in the Hispanic Paradox may not have come from the safety net of family.
Social support and optimism are factors that may buffer the impact of stress.
Is the Hispanic culture more optimistic than the American culture? People can think of stress as being temporary and manageable if they have an optimistic view. A person can feel good about their ability to cope with stress.
There is a paper on the positive aspects of human language. The happy index was developed by the researchers to measure the number of positive words in different languages. They looked at books, newspapers, and music.
The happy index was shown in a figure in the paper. The result was quite shocking. Those in Spanish had the highest happy index ratings.
The pieces began falling into place once I identified the Spanish language as a focus. I used linguistic analyses to look at the role of language in emotion. A current theory of emotion shows how language is used to construct emotions.
Blood pressure and heart rate can be affected by emotions. The development of heart disease can be traced back to our reactions and recovery from stress.
The Spanish language's rich and positive emotion lexicon may influence culture over time but also affect our emotional reaction to stress.
Positive words can contribute to better cardiovascular health in Hispanic populations. The language facilitates emotional expression.
In English, we simply are, but in Spanish, we can be a certain way temporarily.
I could be overweight in English. In Spanish, I can be permanently overweight, or I can be temporarily overweight.
Spanish makes use of the subjunctive form of verbs. The subjunctive can be used to express hypothetical situations, wishes, and possibilities.
Consider the realism of the author Gabriel Garcn. The subjunctive was used to facilitate the possibility of alternative realities.
The Spanish language can exaggerate and minimize by adding a suffix, which increases the range of emotions and perceptions. The example shows how the therapist helped his patient through a difficult phase of therapy.
My hunch is that the flowery nature of Spanish contributes to a culture that supports emotional expression.
It can help its speakers deal with stress.
Maria Llabre is a professor at the University of Miami.
This article is free to use under a Creative Commons license. The original article is worth a read.
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