Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
The question may be more than just the small talk it sounds like. According to a new Dutch study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, optimists may live longer.
The researchers, led by Dr. Erik J. Giltay of the Psychiatric Centre GGZ Delfland in Delft, The Neteherlands, monitored 941 adults who between 65 and 85. In 1991, each volunteer took a standard survey designed to measure health, self-respect, morale, optimism and relationships. It included a scale that gauged their tendency to be optimistic or pessimistic (by their response to statements such as, “I often feel that life is full of promises” and “I still have many goals to strive for.”) It also included questions about lifestyle, occupation, health history and education.
Each volunteer was then placed into one of four groups, based on his or her level of optimism or pessimism.
Nine years later (on average) the researchers followed up. They found that 42 percent of the group had died–397 of the 941–but only 30 percent of those who had been placed within the most optimistic group to begin with had died, while 57 percent of those in the most pessimistic group had died.
The team carefully figured in such risk factors as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, overweight and physical inactivity–and the risk of death was still 29 percent lower among highly optimistic men and women than among highly pessimistic.
It also helps to be male, apparently. The happiest men in the study reduced their risk of dying by almost two-thirds, while among the happiest women, the reduction was only a third. Then again, women already live longer, on average, so their risk was already lower.
All of this, of course, raises the question, “Why?”
There isn’t a definitive answer, but one possible explanation is that pessimists may already have been in overall poorer health than optimists, even though their “sub-clinical” conditions weren’t picked up by the original survey. In other words, they might have felt pessimistic because they simply didn’t feel very well.
On the other hand, the researchers suggest, optimists may be better at coping with the various forms of adversity the elderly are prone too. For example, they might be more likely to comply with medical treatment because they truly believe it will make them better, whereas pessimists might let it slide, figuring it’s not going to do any good anyway. Optimists may also be more likely to seek out social support; in fact, they may be optimistic because they already have a strong support network.
Being pessimistic may also lead to dangerous behavior such as taking up smoking and overeating.
Although there have been many studies that have tied negative emotions, such as chronic depression and hopelessness, to a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease or other causes, this is one of relatively few that shows that the reverse is true–that being optimistic translates into a lower risk.
Perhaps, Dr. Giltay and his colleagues say, there are actual biological benefits to being Sunny Sue instead of Gloomy Gus (not that they used those terms, of course!). Perhaps there is a linkage between genes that predispose people to depression and genes that control the immune and hormone systems.
Just last year, British scientists linked a gene called 5-HTT to the predisposition toward depression some people have. 5-HTT controls how well the brain uses serotonin, a signaling chemical linked to mood whose levels are also manipulated by anti-depressants such as Prozac. Variations in the gene seem to play a major role in how well people deal with stress.
That’s not to say that 5-HTT or any other gene is an “optimism gene” that determines how optimistic you are. There is a very complex interplay between environmental factors and our genes at all levels, which is why some people get cancer after exposure to carcinogens and other people don’t.
If you’re pessimistic, you’re now figuring, “Great. I’ll bet I’m genetically gloomy. I’m doomed.” Whereas if you’re optimistic, you’re thinking, “Great! I’ll bet I’m genetically gleeful! I’m going to live forever!”
Neither, of course, is entirely true. But it does seem that, as much as it depends on you, you should “Always look on the bright side of life!”
If you do, you just might have more of it.
