The secret to longevity lies in a combination of healthy habits: a balanced diet, regular exercise, no smoking or drinking alcohol, and…? optimistic? A recent study from Boston University, which has seen the light in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has concluded that there is a relationship to be optimistic and live longer.
Scientists analyzed a sample of 70,000 women over ten years, and a smaller sample of men, whose trajectory they followed for three decades. When they studied factors such as diet, how much exercise they did, the amount of alcohol they drank and whether or not they smoked, as well as their levels of optimism, they concluded that the longevity of those belonging to the most optimistic groups was on average 11% for men and 15% for women. They were also more likely to reach what is considered to be “exceptionally long-lived,” which is to live 85 years or more.
“There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that longevity goes hand in hand with good health, and our findings raise the possibility of promoting healthy aging by cultivating psychological factors such as optimism,” says study author Lewina Lee. However, Lee also acknowledges that there is still much to study in this regard, since it is not yet clear why this relationship between optimism and longevity.
In fact, by 2015, the magazine The Lancet published an investigation in which it was concluded that the relationship between joy and longevity might be unfounded. As we tell in Wellnessbeam, many other authors consider that, although it is good to be positive, since it makes us more creative, enthusiastic and responsible, we cannot lose sight of reality. All in all, it almost interests more to try to be positive… What if it prolongs life?