Unfortunately, study after study shows that we often distort or ignore critical information about our own health in order to seem healthier than we really are.6 One study, for example, gave patients a cholesterol test, then followed up to see what they remembered months later. Patients with the worst test results—who were judged the most at-risk of cholesterol-related health problems—were most likely to misremember their test results, and they remembered their results as better (i.e., healthier) than they actually were.
