Live past 90 – study says optimism could increase chances by 10%

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When people think about longevity, they mostly think it’s about diet and exercise. But studies have shown that thoughts and feelings can have a large role as well. New research has found that optimism could have a role in getting people past 90.

A study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, found that the people who scored highest for optimism in a survey were more likely to live past 90 compared to people who were the least optimistic.

It turns out the 25 percent who were most optimistic had a 10 percent bigger likelihood of getting to beyond 90 than the 25 percent that were the least optimistic.

The research was only observational, meaning it didn’t attempt to explain the underlying causes of this trend.

Past research has found that optimism can confer several physical benefits that may help to offset various diseases.

Several studies have shown that optimists get better sleep, experience less stress, and have healthier habits. As a result, they tend to have better cardiovascular health and immunity.

Optimists are more likely to eat healthily, stay active, and smoke less, according to a study from 2018.

These healthy habits are known to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, which includes stroke and heart disease – two of the biggest killers in the UK.

Yet, in the recent research, lifestyle factors, like regular exercise and healthy eating, were responsible for less than 25 percent of the association, indicating that other factors may be at play, according to the authors.

The study looked at 159,225 women in the US who enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative between 1993 and 1998. The women, aged 50-79 were followed up for 26 years after enrolling.

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The people enrolled in the study were asked questions to which they answered whether they “agree”, “disagree”, “strongly agree” or “strongly disagree” with different statements to give them an optimism score.

Unlike previous studies, this one looked at women from all sorts of social backgrounds and ethnicities.

It also looked at women with chronic health problems and depression. It found that even when these factors were present those that were optimistic were still more likely to live longer.

Hayami Koga, the lead author of the study and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Harvard Chan School said: “Although optimism itself may be affected by social structural factors, such as race and ethnicity, our research suggests that the benefits of optimism may hold across diverse groups.”

“A lot of previous work has focused on deficits or risk factors that increase the risks for diseases and premature death.

“Our findings suggest that there’s value to focusing on positive psychological factors, like optimism, as possible new ways of promoting longevity and healthy ageing across diverse groups.

“We tend to focus on the negative risk factors that affect our health,” said Koga.

“It is also important to think about the positive resources such as optimism that may be beneficial to our health, especially if we see that these benefits are seen across racial and ethnic groups.”

One possible explanation for the better results is the way optimists manage stress.

Optimists may directly work to tackle their stress levels and have strategies to overcome their issues and find gratitude and positivity in difficult situations.

By reducing stress levels, optimists may reduce the long-term damage done by repetitive exposure to stress hormones like cortisol.

High levels of cortisol can bump up your heart rate and blood pressure, and affect your immune system, in the long term affecting your risk of getting dangerous diseases.

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