Seeing the glass as half full may mean a longer life, according to research suggesting that optimists not only live longer in general, but have a better chance of reaching 85 or older. People of an upbeat disposition have previously been found to have a lower risk of heart conditions and premature death. Researchers now say it could also play a role in living a long life. “A lot of evidence suggests that exceptional longevity is usually accompanied by a longer span of good health and living ...

Seeing the glass as half full may mean a longer life, according to research suggesting that optimists not only live longer in general, but have a better chance of reaching 85 or older. People of an upbeat disposition have previously been found to have a lower risk of heart conditions and premature death. Researchers now say it could also play a role in living a long life. “A lot of evidence suggests that exceptional longevity is usually accompanied by a longer span of good health and living without disability, so our findings raise an exciting possibility that we may be able to promote healthy and resilient ageing by cultivating psychosocial assets such as optimism,” said Lewina Lee, the lead author of the study at Boston University School of Medicine.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Lee and colleagues report how they analysed data from two previous long-term research projects, one involving female nurses and the other focused on a cohort of men. The former team compared lifespan for the most optimistic with the least, taking into account factors including age, sex, race, education, depression and other health conditions present at the outset. The results show the most optimistic group of women had a lifespan almost 15% longer than the least. As for the other project, when the team compared the fifth of men boasting the highest optimism scores with the least optimistic, they found the most positive men had lifespans almost 11% longer.

But being optimistic was not only linked to a longer lifespan. For men and women it was also linked more specifically to living to 85 or older when health behaviours were taken into account, with the most optimistic group of women having 20% better odds of reaching age 85 than the least. Lee said it was not yet clear why optimism is linked to longevity. “In our study, healthier behaviours, fewer depressive symptoms, and more social ties only partially accounted for the association from optimism to exceptional longevity,” Lee said, adding there are likely to be other mechanisms at play, such as optimistic people coping better with stress. Dr Catherine Hurt, an expert in health psychology at City, University of London, said the study highlighted the importance of psychological wellbeing alongside physical wellbeing for living a long and healthy life.

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