Study shows optimists live longer

Study shows optimists live longer

ROCHESTER, Minn. (February 9, 2000 2:17 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - A Mayo Clinic study shows that optimists, on average, live longer than pessimists.

It's not a definitive study, but the research suggests optimism can lead to success at work, school, sports, health and longevity.

"What is happening in the mind is strongly influencing the body, or the final outcome of the body, which is death," said Toshihiko Maruta, a Mayo psychiatrist and one of the authors of the study in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, published this week.

The research is derived from questionnaires answered by Mayo Clinic patients and more than 800 Olmsted County residents between 1962 and 1965. Follow up questionnaires show that regardless of age or sex, the most pessimistic among them tended to die earlier than the most optimistic.

In fact, every 10 point increase in the "pessimism scale" resulted in a 19 percent increase in premature death, Maruta said.

Researchers determined that, like high cholesterol or obesity, pessimism is a risk factor for early death, even after other risk factors such as age and gender were factored out, Maruta said.

No known study begins to explain why pessimism and poor health might be related but "a lot of work is being done on that topic," said Charles Carver, a psychologist at the University of Miami who studies motivation and coping responses to adversity.

A problem for researchers is the number of ways to define and measure pessimism and optimism. For example, Carver applies a simple definition - do you have good or bad expectations for the future? Other researchers focus on interpretation of the past.

"Optimism is good for you," Carver said. "On that part there is no question. But whether it keeps you alive longer or not is unknown."

Maruta's research didn't surprise David Lykken, a professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota and author of the book "Happiness."

"It's a well-known fact that happy people don't get sick as often, and, when they do get sick or injured, they recover more quickly," Lykken said. "That is thought to be one of the main reasons why we tend to be a happy breed.

"Grouches and grumblers didn't do as well when they got sick or were searching for a mate. Nobody wants to be around them."