What kind of practices come to mind when you think about having a long lifespan? Healthy diet choices, getting enough physical exercise, and avoiding all bad habits? And what is considered a long life? According to The World Factbook, the average life expectancy is about 77 years for men and 82 years for women (1).
And what if you could increase your lifespan simply by being optimistic?
Optimism is a psychological attribute characterized as the general expectation that good things will happen, or the belief that the future will be favorable because you may be able to control important outcomes. Past studies have reported that more optimistic individuals are less likely to suffer from chronic diseases and die prematurely. A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that optimism was related with exceptional longevity, defined as 85 years or greater (2).
Most research on exceptional longevity has investigated biomedical factors (i.e. alcohol consumption, tobacco use, physical activity, and/or diet) associated with survival, but recent research suggests non-biological factors are also important. (Read about the bio-psycho-social-spiritual model here) In this study they examined whether higher optimism was associated with a greater likelihood of living longer.
In order to gather data over a long period of time, two groups of male and female participants were part of “long-running” observational study. 69,744 women from the Nurses’ Health Study were followed since 1976 and 1,429 men from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study were followed over the span of 50+ years.
Using optimism questionnaires and following the physical health of the two groups they found that women with the highest levels of optimism had a life span 14.9% longer, and the optimistic men had longer life spans of 10.9%.
They also found that the most optimistic group of women were less likely to have health conditions, such as depression and type 2 diabetes. Men with higher levels of optimism had higher levels of education, family income, and were less likely to report depressive symptoms or have diabetes. They also reported less alcohol use and lower body mass index (BMI). Both men and women with higher optimism were more likely to engage in physical activity regularly.
The overall results of this study specifically relate optimism to an 11% to 15% longer lifespan on average, and greater odds of achieving exceptional longevity. Overall, findings suggest optimism may be an important psycho-social factor for extending life span in older adults. Optimism has some of the strongest and most consistent associations with a wide range of health outcomes, including reduced risk of cardiovascular events, lung function decline, premature death, and other mood disorders, like depression & anxiety.
Furthermore, optimism and positivity has shown to be beneficial not only for a person’s lifespan, but their overall way of living. Although optimism is believed to be ~25% an inherited trait, it is also shaped by social factors and can be learned. There is a tremendous amount of research that supports that the people around you will influence your behaviors, outlook, and beliefs.
We remind our patients that you will become the average of the five people that you most frequently associate with. Look around at the people who are closest to you. Are they healthy or sick? Are they kind or bitter? Are they wise or foolish? You will unconsciously adopt their behaviors and become similar to them. Naturally, your actions will influence those you are connected too as well.
“Across many different kinds of behavior: voting, cooperation, smoking, weight loss and weight gain, happiness, cooperative behavior, public health behaviors, we and others have been able to show that people are very meaningfully affected by the behaviors of other people to whom they’re connected. And here’s the kicker: they are also affected by the behaviors of people to whom they’re not directly connected. When your friend’s friends quit smoking or your friend’s friends’ friend become nicer and more cooperative, this ripples through the network and affects you. Similarly, when you make a positive change in your life, when you start running for example, or you participate in our democracy and you vote, it ripples outward from you and can affect dozens, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of other people.”
It’s important to understand that when we make a positive change or have positive expectations, it is not only affecting you, but can affect the people around you, and in turn, the people around them, creating a ripple effect.
Now that you know this, is there a way you can begin to change the way you think and feel in a positive way? Because it could increase your longevity, lifestyle, and impact humanity as a whole.
References:
“The World Factbook: United States.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 1 Feb. 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html.
Lee, Lewina O., et al. “Optimism Is Associated with Exceptional Longevity in 2 Epidemiologic Cohorts of Men and Women.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116, no. 37, 2019, pp. 18357–18362., doi:10.1073/pnas.1900712116.