Doctors have identified a link between worldview and life expectancy, according to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Men and women, who were classified as the most optimistic by the test results, had a life expectancy that was 11 and 15 percent higher, respectively. The study was conducted on two samples with the participation of 1429 men and 69744 women.
Life expectancy in developed countries is constantly increasing and many more people have become long-livers (usually this is the name for people who have lived to 85 years). Studies have shown that high life expectancy is associated not only with genetic, but also with psychosocial factors. In particular, optimistic people are less likely to develop cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. Optimism is partially inherited genetically, but it is also due to social factors. Experimental studies have shown that optimistic behavior can be learned.
Optimism not only reduces the risk of serious illness, but also reduces the likelihood of premature death. But research on the relationship between optimism and life expectancy has not yet been conducted. Therefore, American doctors led by Lewina O. Lee from Boston University decided to check if there is such a statistical connection.
The authors used two samples: from the Nursing Health Study and from the US Department of Veterans Affairs' Regulatory Aging Study. The Nursing Study began in 1976. It was attended by 121 thousand people who every two years filled out questionnaires, including those concerning their lifestyle, behavior, diseases. In 2004, women underwent psychological testing, with the help of which their worldview and, including optimism, were assessed. The authors used data from this survey (according to the level of optimism, they divided the participants into four groups), and followed the mortality of the participants in the experiment until 2014. As a result, they recruited 69,744 women to participate in the optimism test. The normative aging study has been conducted since 1963 and involved 2,280 men. In 1986, they were tested, during which their level of optimism was also investigated. The authors tracked mortality in the cohort to 2016 and recruited 1,429 people to study who were tested for their worldview. According to the level of optimism, they divided the participants into five groups. The authors divided the sample into five groups, rather than four, because there was a wider range of scores used in testing it compared to testing for nurses. According to the level of optimism, they divided the participants into five groups. The authors divided the sample into five groups, rather than four, because there was a wider range of scores used in testing it compared to testing for nurses. According to the level of optimism, they divided the participants into five groups. The authors divided the sample into five groups, rather than four, because there was a wider range of scores used in testing it compared to testing for nurses.
To assess whether the level of optimism affects life expectancy, the scientists used the accelerated test model (AFT). And using multiple regression analysis, the authors calculated the odds ratio (allows you to quantitatively describe the relationship between two signs) between the level of optimism and the life expectancy of the participants.
As a result, the most optimistic nurses lived, on average, 15 percent longer (p <0.01) than the most pessimistic women in the study. For men, the results were similar: optimists lived 11 percent longer (p = 0.002) than pessimists.
The researchers calculated the odds ratio (OR) between the level of optimism and life expectancy for those participants who at the end of the observations lived to be 85 years old. They were 13,045 women and 1,117 men. For the most optimistic of them, compared to the most pessimistic, OR was 1.5 for women (p <0.01) and 1.7 for men (p <0.05). Even among the study participants from the second lowest segment, OR was higher than among people from the last segment - 1.2 for women (p <0.01) and 1.5 for men (p <0.05).
The authors believe that optimists more often than pessimists adhere to a healthy lifestyle and, as a result, life expectancy increases. Optimistic people usually have the confidence to achieve their goals, so the researchers believe they find it easier to develop healthy habits, adjust goals if they are not achievable, and are more effective problem solvers than pessimists. Another explanation could be that optimists do not react so emotionally to difficult situations and recover more quickly from severe stress than more pessimistic people.
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Ekaterina Rusakova