Do you always look on the bright side of things? This habit could actually be good for your health.
The study found that optimists live longer.
What is an optimistic mindset? Optimists focus on the positives of situations and anticipate positive outcomes to events. They are also confident in their ability to make good things happen. However, what relationship does this type of mindset have with your health?
Higher levels of optimism were linked to longer lifespans and a higher possibility of surviving over 90 years of age, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The study included 159,255 women of different racial backgrounds.
Researchers discovered that there was a clear connection between optimism and longevity across racial and ethnic groups, and that lifestyle variables were responsible for about one-quarter of this relationship.
“Although optimism itself may be patterned by social structural factors, our findings suggest that the benefits of optimism for longevity may hold across racial and ethnic groups,” said lead author Hayami K. Koga, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Optimism may be an important target of intervention for longevity across diverse groups.”
Reference: “Optimism, lifestyle, and longevity in a racially diverse cohort of women” by Hayami K. Koga, MD, Claudia Trudel-Fitzgerald, Ph.D., Lewina O. Lee, Ph.D., Peter James, Ph.D., Candyce Kroenke, ScD, Lorena Garcia, DrPH, Aladdin H. Shadyab, Ph.D., Elena Salmoirago-Blotcher, MD, Ph.D., JoAnn E. Manson, MD, DrPH, Francine Grodstein, ScD and Laura D. Kubzansky, Ph.D., 8 June 2022, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.