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Being
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Optimistic Elderly Live Longer
Positive thinking linked with greater than 50% reduced
risk of death
By Amy Kenny - Betterhumans Staff
11/1/2004
Happy, to be alive: Elderly people with an optimistic outlook have a greater
than 50% lower risk of dying than pessimists.
An optimistic attitude has been linked with a greater than 50%
reduced risk of dying in the elderly.
Erik Giltay of the Netherlands' Psychiatric Center GGZ Delfland and
colleagues have found that people with high levels of optimism have a
55% lower risk of general death and a 23% lower
risk of cardiovascular-related death.
"In conclusion, we found that the trait of optimism was an important
long-term determinant of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in
elderly subjects independent of sociodemographic
characteristics and cardiovascular risk factors,"
the researchers write. "A predisposition toward optimism
seemed to provide a survival benefit in elderly subjects with
relatively short life expectancies otherwise."
Pessimistic outlooks
Giltay and colleagues examined data from 1991's Arnhem Elderly Study.
The study had 999 men and women, aged 65 to 85, answer questions on health,
self-respect, morale, optimism and relationships. Of these, 941―466
men and 475 women―had complete information on
questions regarding optimism and were divided into
four groups based on their level of optimism.
According to information gathered in a 2001 follow-up study, the 397 deaths
that occurred related directly to patients' self-reported pessimistic
outlooks on life.
Overall, there was an inverse relationship between level of optimism and
risk of death. This link was stronger in men than in women when it
came to all-around mortality, but not when it came
to cardiovascular mortality.
Protective effects
The researchers say that optimism reduced the risk of cardiovascular death
through mechanisms largely unaffected by baseline values of smoking,
obesity, physical activity, hypertension or lipid profile.
They say that pessimists, however, may be more susceptible to changes across
time in risk factors that affect the progression of cardiovascular
disease,
such as smoking habits, obesity and hypertension.
"Our results, combined with the finding that hopelessness was associated
with an increased incidence or progression of disease, suggest that
dispositional optimism affects the progression of cardiovascular
disease," they say.
Mind matters
The findings support similar research examining data from a 1975-to-1998
study in Ohio that looked at 660 people over the age of 50. When
social psychologist Becca Levy and colleagues
analyzed data from the study, they found that
participants who described their lives as full, hopeful and
worthy enjoyed an increased lifespan.
Those who saw aging in a positive light lived 7.5 years longer than those
who viewed growing old as a negative experience. This increase is
even greater than the four years that can be
gained by maintaining low blood pressure and
cholesterol intake.
Another study reported this September found that negative self-image has a
significant impact on age-related symptoms of frailty and memory
loss.
Giltay and colleagues' research is published in the journal Archives of
General Psychiatry.
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