Dr. WEEKS’s comment: My clinical specialty is psychoneuroimmunology. This is the study of how the psychological factors in a human being affect the neurological system which, in turn, affect the immune competence. Our thoughts create our feelings and our feelings create our biochemistry. It can be very challenging to change your feelings, but if you change your thoughts, which is relatively easier, your feelings will change accordingly. This is an underappreciated importance for people with immune challenges. Mind your state of mind. Now we have a new Harvard study, which shows that optimism alone can increase lifespan by up to 15%.
So, how is your state of mind? How do you maintain an optimal thought process and a sense of optimism? As my fabulous daughter Amelia shared in a recent birthday card, if your glass is half empty, pour the water into a smaller glass and have a better attitude.
“…Our results further suggest that optimism is specifically related to 11 to 15% longer life span, on average, and to greater odds of achieving “exceptional longevity,” that is, living to the age of 85 or beyond…”
Optimism is associated with exceptional longevity in 2 epidemiologic cohorts of men and women
Lewina O. Lee lewina@bu.edu, Peter James, Emily S. Zevon, +4 , and Laura D. KubzanskyAuthors Info & Affiliations
August 26, 2019 116 (37) 18357-18362 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900712116
Significance
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. Previous studies reported that more optimistic individuals are less likely to suffer from chronic diseases and die prematurely. Our results further suggest that optimism is specifically related to 11 to 15% longer life span, on average, and to greater odds of achieving “exceptional longevity,” that is, living to the age of 85 or beyond. These relations were independent of socioeconomic status, health conditions, depression, social integration, and health behaviors (e.g., smoking, diet, and alcohol use). Overall, findings suggest optimism may be an important psychosocial resource for extending life span in older adults.
Abstract
Most research on exceptional longevity has investigated biomedical factors associated with survival, but recent work suggests nonbiological factors are also important. Thus, we tested whether higher optimism was associated with longer life span and greater likelihood of exceptional longevity. Data are from 2 cohorts, women from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and men from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study (NAS), with follow-up of 10 y (2004 to 2014) and 30 y (1986 to 2016), respectively. Optimism was assessed using the Life Orientation Test–Revised in NHS and the Revised Optimism–Pessimism Scale from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 in NAS. Exceptional longevity was defined as survival to age 85 or older. Primary analyses used accelerated failure time models to assess differences in life span associated with optimism; models adjusted for demographic confounders and health conditions, and subsequently considered the role of health behaviors. Further analyses used logistic regression to evaluate the likelihood of exceptional longevity. In both sexes, we found a dose-dependent association of higher optimism levels at baseline with increased longevity (P trend < 0.01). For example, adjusting for demographics and health conditions, women in the highest versus lowest optimism quartile had 14.9% (95% confidence interval, 11.9 to 18.0) longer life span. Findings were similar in men. Participants with highest versus lowest optimism levels had 1.5 (women) and 1.7 (men) greater odds of surviving to age 85; these relationships were maintained after adjusting for health behaviors. Given work indicating optimism is modifiable, these findings suggest optimism may provide a valuable target to test for strategies to promote longevity.
As life span has increased in industrialized countries, exceptional longevity—commonly defined as survival to 85 y (1)—has become less rare. Research across diverse organisms consistently demonstrates that increases in life span are often accompanied by delayed morbidity (2). Therefore, factors that promote exceptional longevity are highly relevant to public health as they may extend the duration of good health (also known as “health span”; ref. 3). Research on exceptional longevity has largely focused on identifying biomedical factors (e.g., genetic variants) associated with increased survival, but emerging evidence suggests nongenetic factors also contribute. Recent epidemiologic studies have identified psychosocial assets such as optimism as potential predictors of longer life, based on findings linking higher optimism to reduced risk of developing chronic diseases of aging and premature mortality (4–10).