there is a lot of interest — and effective — in innovations designed to help us living more time. Thousands of dollars have been spent Silicon Valley efforts as “anti-aging nootropics” and “rejuvenation” startups in a quest to stop the aging process.
But new research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggests there is one overlooked longevity trick which is consistently associated with longer life and general well-being: Optimism.
Being told that you will live longer if you are optimistic may sound a bit like hearing that you will be healthier if you eat your broccoli. However, the researchers behind this study say their findings should prompt people to rethink their approach to wellness. Furthermore, optimism should be seen as an approach to improving health.
“Because evidence from randomized controlled trials suggests that interventions can increase levels of optimism, optimism could be an important intervention target for promoting longevity and healthy aging in diverse groups,” said the first author. Hayami Kōga tells me.
Koga is a Ph.D. candidate at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
“We tend to focus on negative risk factors that affect our health,” says Koga.
“I hope people think about the importance of positive resources, like optimism, that can be beneficial to our health, especially as we see these benefits being seen across all racial and ethnic groups.”
What does optimism really mean?
In science, being described as optimistic doesn’t mean you have an overly cheerful attitude or always wear rose-colored glasses. Instead, optimists have a general expectation that good things will happen and believe that even though bad things do happen, these negative moments do not outnumber the positive ones.
A number of studies suggest that higher optimism is related to better mental and physical health. Previous research It has also been linked to being optimistic with greater odds of achieving “exceptional longevity,” described as living to age 85 or older.
In an earlier study, Koga and colleagues found the same result, but looked at a largely white population. For this new document, they expanded the group of participants to include women representing different racial and ethnic groups.
In all, 159,255 women enrolled in the study when they were between the ages of 50 and 79. Then, for 26 years, the researchers followed the women, surveying them about lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise, and their levels of optimism.
The most optimistic women in the study tended to have a 5.4 percent longer life expectancy and were 10 percent more likely to live past 90 years than the least optimistic women, according to the study.
It’s important to note that healthy lifestyle choices also contributed to these participants’ overall health, but optimism came out on top as the main factor driving the difference between the two groups, the study found. Previous studies also suggest that optimistic people are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors, such as not smoking.
Can optimism be cultivated?
Although your probability of being optimistic is slightly influenced by geneticsoptimism is also shaped by social influences.
In turn, systemic issues like racism can affect the chances of feeling optimistic. In fact, the CDC describe racism as “a fundamental driver of racial and ethnic health disparities.” But people who are optimistic are more likely to live longer, regardless of their background. Koga thinks this result partly explains why the study is so significant.
The new study found that the benefits of optimism transcend racial and ethnic grouping.
“Understanding how potential preventative factors work across racial and ethnic groups to improve health is critical,” he says.
Ultimately, you can become more optimistic given the right circumstances.
An intervention supported by randomized controlled trials is called ‘Best Possible Self-Intervention’.
It is about “identifying objectives and then imagining a future in which everything has gone well and the objectives have been achieved”, Koga. really does increase levels of optimism in most people.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is also known to increase optimism, says Koga. This form of therapy generally involves practices that help a person avoid unhelpful or unproductive ways of thinking and change their behavior patterns.
Some studies also suggest that practicing gratitude can increase optimism. Reflecting on what is going well in your life can rebalance your perspective and dampen pessimistic thoughts.
