Optimism Increases Lifespan By 11-15%, New Study Finds (npr.org) 76
"A Boston study published this month suggests people who tend to be optimistic are likelier than others to live to be 85 years old or more," reports NPR:
That finding was independent of other factors thought to influence life's length -- such as "socioeconomic status, health conditions, depression, social integration, and health behaviors," the researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health say... The study included 69,744 women and 1,429 men. Both groups completed survey measures to assess their level of optimism, as well as their overall health and health habits such as diet, smoking and alcohol use.
In the survey, study participants were asked if they agreed with statements such as "in uncertain times I usually expect the best" or "I usually expect to succeed in things that I do." Health outcomes from women in the study were tracked for 10 years, while the men's health was followed for 30 years. Researchers found that the most optimistic men and women demonstrated, on average, an 11-15% longer lifespan, and had far greater odds of reaching 85 years old, compared to the least optimistic group.
In the survey, study participants were asked if they agreed with statements such as "in uncertain times I usually expect the best" or "I usually expect to succeed in things that I do." Health outcomes from women in the study were tracked for 10 years, while the men's health was followed for 30 years. Researchers found that the most optimistic men and women demonstrated, on average, an 11-15% longer lifespan, and had far greater odds of reaching 85 years old, compared to the least optimistic group.
Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:5, Insightful)
Always the same. Scientist says X is linked to Y, meaning they are found to correlate, to happen together.
Then scientifically illiterate media reports it as "X causes Y".
I'd expect slashdot to be better, but I'm not new here.
How about "Short lifespan reduces optimism" as a headline next time? Not quite true, but no worse than the other.
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:5, Funny)
That makes me feel very depressed.
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:5, Funny)
Well, at least you will be depressed for 11-15% less time than someone who isn't!
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Lets face it, averagely smart people (and even those a bit above) are not mentally equipped to understand what a correlation is and that causation is something very different. And as an added benefit, they get to chose which way round the causation pleases them more. Ties in somewhat with the story, I might surmise.
That said, if I get a choice, I will certainly not reincarnate with this bunch of morons again...
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The why is all you need. Why are optimist generally healthier than pessimists, it is really quite simply, your body has built in conservation of bodily resources systems, it either opens up or restricts blood flow to your organs and either gets those organs to run at higher or lower output. This is feed by your state of mind, you now like guess, what mind states would promote, high flows and low flows. Do not be confused by flight or flight, that adrenaline flows to your organs needed right now and only rig
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure, but one almost would start to forget there is a correllation between optimism and things to be optimistic about.
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Your speculation is plausible, but scientifically invalid. All they have is the correlation. The "why" (i.e. the causation) is missing.
corellation and causation, practical example (Score:1)
however this does not imply causation, which is:
causation: upper management is riding everyone and making you do bullshit, causing everyone to be fucked up.
But its easy to mess those things up and saying 'fucked up people are causing my misery'. Which would of course be the wrong conclusion.
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https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/correlation.png
</XKCD>
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If things are going good, you're likely to be more optimistic, and if things are good you're probably also less stressed, taking better care of yourself, likely to be wealthier, ect. But if you've got a crap life for whatever reson, that will lead you to be pessimistic, and it will also probably lead to other health problems.
This doesn't necessarily mean that outlook influences lifespan, but that the factors that influence lifespan may also influence
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To be fair, a short life reduces pessimism too, since you aren't around as long to have it.
But all joking aside, there are medical reasons why having a positive outlook on life is more likely to help you longer, mostly due to the effects that stress and depression have on the likelihood of developing heart disease.
This headline is hardly news... it has been well understood for decades.
Re: Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
I'm a pessimist, but I also realize that there is no point stressing over things I cannot control. Just that realization alone keeps a lot of stress from my life.
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My short pessimist life feels twice as long as an optimist's.
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TFS says:
"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 one can control important outcomes."
So more likely than merely being optimistic having any effect, it's the ability to control your destiny and positively influence the outcome of events that does.
Interestingly they claim to have controlled for socioeconomic status, so it seems that money is not the only way to gain that control. Eithe
Comments without reading the research - AGAIN (Score:2)
Always the same. Scientists do long term research, compensate for health factors, do whatever they can to get a reasonable outcome. Slashdot commenter reads the headline and synopsis, blasts scientists on the basis of ungrounded assumptions.
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Always the same. Scientist says X is linked to Y, meaning they are found to correlate, to happen together.
Then scientifically illiterate media reports it as "X causes Y".
I'd expect slashdot to be better, but I'm not new here.
How about "Short lifespan reduces optimism" as a headline next time? Not quite true, but no worse than the other.
You don't seem very optimistic about the article.
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Yes, it's quite possible that living longer goes back and time and makes you more optimistic.
Of course there's a possibility of a third confounding factor, one that makes you more optimistic when you're younger and keeps you alive longer, Back in the 80s and 90s there was a lot of research into type correlation of "Type A" personality traits and coronary heart disease. Since CHD is the leading cause of death in the elderly, if that research is correct it alone Type A personality could be the confounding
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How about: depression, leading symptom of early death. Depression as auto-immune symptom. Depression as inflammation of nervous symptom.
We know that spirochetes, like Borrellia, can infect the nervous symptom and cause depression and other symptoms up to hallucinations. They aren't the only things that can do this.
Let's see the research that says forcing yourself to be optimistic changes much of anything.
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E.g.: People who contract ebola are found to be more likely to experience premature death.
Then don't use exchanges (Score:1)
Big whoop (Score:2)
You're still gonna die, but if you're really optimistic, you'll spend an extra 10 years being decrepit, smelly, and incontinent.
Have a great Labor Day, everyone!
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With that attitude, according to the theory, you may not make it through the night...
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It's really hard to be optimistic if you're eating healthy and exercising all the time.
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It's really hard to be optimistic if you're eating healthy and exercising all the time.
I disagree completely. Happiness is linked with health in many cases. I always feel happier and more optimistic after exercising, and I always feel better when I eat healthy than when I eat junk. I know that since I lost 60lbs and got in excellent shape I'm a lot happier and optimistic person.
This isn't just casual self-observation either, studies have been done showing that exercise and healthier eating leads to happier (and so I presume more optimistic) people. Being a couch potato eating pizza and C
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There's no point to living longer if you are going to be miserable, so beer and steak for everyone!
Great news everybody! (Score:2)
I just look at like this: my pessimistic, cranky, "get off my lawn" attitude will ensure that I only have to deal with the rest of you for 85% as long!
What a win. I feel optimistic.
On the other hand (Score:2)
The realistic ones get this constant pain and suffering cut short. I think they are getting the better deal.
Nope (Score:2)
The realistic ones get this constant pain and suffering cut short.
An optimist would assume they would be in pretty good health and wellness right til the end! Plenty of old people not in constant pain and suffering. At least the optimistic ones are...
Seems like you just shortened your life over some irrational fear.
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The realistic ones get this constant pain and suffering cut short.
An optimist would assume they would be in pretty good health and wellness right til the end! Plenty of old people not in constant pain and suffering. At least the optimistic ones are...
Seems like you just shortened your life over some irrational fear.
Someone in constant pain and suffering may be pessimistic, whereas someone who feels great may be optimistic.
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The optimistic ones may also go into things unprepared and then suffer more and longer.
This is not clear-cut. One thing is true though, namely that optimistic people tend to ignore problems longer. That seems to be pretty destructive in some cases.
11-15 percent? Sounds optimistic to me. (Score:2)
But that's just the pessimist in me.
I used to see the best in people (Score:2)
But then Slashdot beat that out of me.
Another reason to be a pessimist (Score:2)
Who wants to live through global warming and the return of Feudalism?
Secret Truth behind global warming (Score:1)
Who wants to live through global warming
Well here you've hit on the secret truth of global warming - Boomers explicitly CAUSED global warming, so they wouldn't have to keep moving to Florida and Arizona as they got older. The warmer the better when you're old it would appear.
and the return of Feudalism?
Feudalism is pretty awesome when you are on top; again I'll refer you to Boomers. They are plenty happy with the fleet of Millenial surfs to work at Starbucks and Applebees.
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Dude, I'm Israeli, both our boomers and our millenials are just going to end up as America's serfs.
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It's ok, I'm a techie, I'm assuming that I will still be able to get an H1B in order to replace an American worker. Unless ofcourse AI replaces us both, in which case I was still optimistic after all.
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Dude, I'm Israeli, both our boomers and our millenials are just going to end up as America's serfs.
With the Donald as our president I think you're much more likely to end up as Iran's serfs unfortunately. The people of Greenland are going to be our serfs.
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I am actually curious about the consequences of global warming. I expect them to be negative but I still want to see. I don't expect us to be able to "fix" the problem, but I don't expect the apocalypse either.
As for the return of Feudalism, what makes you think that? Our economy is based on money, more than ever and it shows no sign of changing. That's opposite of the idea of Feudalism which is based on the exchange of services and mutual obligations. Feudalism is like "I own the land so you have to work f
I prefer to think of it as (Score:5, Funny)
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I see that for you, the glass is half empty!
In unrelated news... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Right until you read the second sentence in the summary.
I see. (Score:2)
I am an Optimist. (Score:5, Funny)
I am an optimist. I'm positive something will go wrong.
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Hope for the best, prepare for the worse.
finally... (Score:1)
So they're saying pessimists don't live as long... (Score:1)
Ignorance is bliss! (Score:2)
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And yet the placebo effect of medication is very real, and has nothing to do with the patient's general state of happiness before the treatment. Rather, it is based on the expectation that the medication will improve their condition.
really? (Score:2)
11-15% ?
I think that's too optimistic.
I doubt that (Score:2)
somehow that just does't sou- *HURK*
from the misanthropic-nihilist dept (Score:2)
optimist depression? (Score:2)
That finding was independent of other factors thought to influence life's length -- such as ... depression
Are there any optimists out there with a depression? I can't imagine those two going hand in hand.
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It happens. Depression can be situational, based on a particularly tragic life events such as illness, unemployment, or death in the family. That can be treated effectively by resolving the situation that is triggering the depression.
Illness. [pvertu. amd dovprce emcpirage de[resseop (Score:2)
They also all shorten livespans. For men, particularly, divorce and the death of their spouse tends to lead to their death within a year.
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They also all shorten livespans. For men, particularly, divorce and the death of their spouse tends to lead to their death within a year.
I know plenty of divorced men who lived longer than a year.
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Oh, my. I do apologize, my fingers slipped when I typed the title. It should have been "Illness, poverty, and divorce encourage depression". According to the summary at https://www.health.harvard.edu... [harvard.edu], divorce or death of a man's spouse nearly increases their risk of death for men by about 30%, and increases it for women only about 15%. So it is an inincreased risk, and a profound one, not a death sentence.
Study title seems a bit misleading. (Score:2)
" The study included 69,744 women and 1,429 men. Both groups completed survey measures to assess their level of optimism, as well as their overall health and health habits such as diet, smoking and alcohol use."
It seems like the title should be something like "Optimistic Women live some percentage longer"
Cherry picking your subjects can always prove some wild-ass theory statistically.
Also who looks both ways before crossing the street? Optimists may just walk into traffic, trusting everything will be OK. .
:
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NPR changed the title because they choose truth over facts.
The actual title of the study is "Optimism is associated with exceptional longevity in 2 epidemiologic cohorts of men and women". In other words, they did the study on two data sets - one men and one women - and found similar outcomes.
Optimism assume they'll live 11-15% longer (Score:2)
study finds.
OH GOD (Score:2)
I AM DOOMED
weird sample sizes (Score:1)
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One man is worth 35 women apparently.
The Work of the International Optimism Cabal (Score:2)
Is living longer (Score:2)
actually a good thing?
Meh.
nah. (Score:1)
Biased study (Score:2)
The study included 69,744 women and 1,429 men.
A bit of an imbalance?
women in the study were tracked for 10 years, while the men's health was followed for 30 years.
What kind of fucked-up science is this?