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!
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
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...
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
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 right and bugger the rest, you need legs and not stomach to run etc.
So optimistic, well your feel more confident about life and hence sustain a high blood and good hormone flow, resulting in healthy organs. Pessimist, you lack of confidence, tilts you toward conservation of bodily resources, just in case, and lower blood and hormonal flows means unhealthier organs.
So in order to be healthy, make yourself happy, it is possible, just push the thought process and biological state, you can literally feel it coming on and keep in going, although a really happy brain is not generally that productive, still really healthy, just not very productive, your body of course will be humming along on a healthy high idle. It is possible to not only suppress your emotions but also stimulate them, make yourself feel happy on purpose to achieve a desired very healthy biological state.
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.
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
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.
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:0)
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/correlation.png
</XKCD>
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
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 outlook.
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
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.
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
My short pessimist life feels twice as long as an optimist's.
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
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. Either that or some people have a false sense of control when really they have none.
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.
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:3)
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.
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:2)
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 factor.
Now there are problems with Type A/Type B, starting with that evidence supporting the existence of that dichotomy is weak. It turns out that much of the research into it was sponsored by the tobacco companies so the could promote behavior and environmental intervention as an alternative to smoking cessation. There were logical flaws in the research; it segregated people into "Type A" and "Type B" without establishing that these behaviors were persistent personality traits first -- something that has never been done to my knowledge at least. Finally of the behaviors in the "Type A" stereotype, only hostility had any significant correlation to CHD. Hostility could in turn be a response to environmental conditions.
Only five traits have been found which represent behavior patterns consistent and long-lived enough to be regarded as true "traits", the so-called "Big 5": openness to new experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and and neuroticism. Of these openness, conscientiousness and extroversion have all been found to correlate to longer lifespans, and since these are believed to be fundamental traits we can't change, if those results stand up they can be reasonably said to "cause" longer lifespans. However this is hardly surprising. People who are more ready to adapt to new circumstances handle aging better; people who are more self-disciplined take better care of themselves; people who have more social contact have stronger social networks, which is powerfully correlated with longer life.
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:1)
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.
Re:Wrong headlione - AGAIN. (Score:1)
E.g.: People who contract ebola are found to be more likely to experience premature death.
I'm cyberbullied by mega corporations. (Score:-1)
If I showed these points to somebody from the year 1999, they probably wouldn't believe me...
.
.
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None of the above is exaggerated or made up. In fact, if anything, it's toned down...
PS: Have you noticed that whenever somebody claims that there is "plenty of" something, typically a software or service, there is not a single one in reality?
Re: I'm cyberbullied by mega corporations. (Score:-1)
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!
Re:Big whoop (Score:2)
With that attitude, according to the theory, you may not make it through the night...
Re:Big whoop (Score:2)
It's really hard to be optimistic if you're eating healthy and exercising all the time.
Re:Big whoop (Score:2)
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 Cheetos may seem appealing and pleasurable, at the time, but you're going to feel happier in the long run if you go for a run instead.
Re:Big whoop (Score:2)
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.
Re:Nope (Score:3)
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.
Re:Nope (Score:2)
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.
Re:Secret Truth behind global warming (Score:2)
Dude, I'm Israeli, both our boomers and our millenials are just going to end up as America's serfs.
Re:Secret Truth behind global warming (Score:3)
Re:Secret Truth behind global warming (Score:2)
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.
Re:Secret Truth behind global warming (Score:2)
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.
Re:Another reason to be a pessimist (Score:2)
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 for me and give me part of your production (you can eat the rest), in exchange I owe you protection".
I prefer to think of it as (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I prefer to think of it as (Score:2)
I see that for you, the glass is half empty!
In unrelated news... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:In unrelated news... (Score:2)
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.
Re:I am an Optimist. (Score:2)
Re:I am an Optimist. (Score:3)
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)
Re:Ignorance is bliss! (Score:2)
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.
Re:optimist depression? (Score:2)
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.
Re:Illness. [pvertu. amd dovprce emcpirage de[ress (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.
I know plenty of divorced men who lived longer than a year.
Re:Illness. [pvertu. amd dovprce emcpirage de[ress (Score:2)
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. .
:
Re:Study title seems a bit misleading. (Score:2)
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)
Re:weird sample sizes (Score:0)
This study analyzed data gathered from two independent studies, each one targeting a particular gender.
Re:weird sample sizes (Score:2)
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?