Study: Optimism is Important Psychosocial Resource for Extending Life Span in Older Adults

People with higher optimism are more likely to live longer and to achieve ‘exceptional longevity,’ that is, living to the age of 85 or beyond, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Higher optimism is associated with longer life span and a greater likelihood of achieving exceptional longevity. Image credit: Daniel Nebreda.

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.

“Most research on exceptional longevity investigated biomedical factors associated with survival, but recent work suggests nonbiological factors are also important,” said lead author Dr. Lewina Lee, a clinical research psychologist at the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston and psychiatrist at Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues.

“Thus, we tested whether higher optimism was associated with longer life span and greater likelihood of exceptional longevity.”

In the study, Dr. Lee and co-authors analyzed data from 69,744 women from the Nurses’ Health Study and 1,429 men from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study.

The women’s age range was 58-86 years when they completed an optimism assessment in 2004, and their mortality status was tracked through 2014. The men’s age range was 41-90 years when they completed an optimism assessment in 1986, and their mortality status was tracked through 2016.

When individuals were compared based on their initial levels of optimism, the researchers found that the most optimistic men and women demonstrated, on average, an 11 to 15% longer lifespan, and had 50-70% greater odds of reaching 85 years old compared to the least optimistic groups.

The results were maintained after accounting for age, demographic factors such as educational attainment, chronic diseases, depression and also health behaviors, such as alcohol use, exercise, diet and primary care visits.

It is unclear how exactly optimism helps people attain longer life.

“Other research suggests that more optimistic people may be able to regulate emotions and behavior as well as bounce back from stressors and difficulties more effectively,” said senior co-author Professor Laura Kubzansky, from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The scientists also consider that more optimistic people tend to have healthier habits, such as being more likely to engage in more exercise and less likely to smoke, which could extend lifespan.

“Research on the reason why optimism matters so much remains to be done, but the link between optimism and health is becoming more evident,” said senior co-author Professor Fran Grodstein, from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

“Our study contributes to scientific knowledge on health assets that may protect against mortality risk and promote resilient aging,” Dr. Lee said.

“We hope that our findings will inspire further research on interventions to enhance positive health assets that may improve the public’s health with aging.”

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Lewina O. Lee et al. Optimism is associated with exceptional longevity in 2 epidemiologic cohorts of men and women. PNAS, published online August 26, 2019; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1900712116