“We tend to focus on the negative risk factors when we talk about health and longevity, but I think it’s also important to keep in mind the positive things like optimism that can affect our health,” Hayami Koga, a researcher who studies optimism at Harvard University, told Newsweek.
Her paper, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in June, shows a clear link between optimism and longevity in women across a range of different backgrounds and ethnicities. This adds to previous research linking optimism to lower cardiovascular risk, respiratory disease and cancer.
“Studies have shown that higher optimism is linked with lower inflammation, healthier lipid levels and higher antioxidants,” Eric Kim, an assistant professor in psychology at the University of British Columbia, told Newsweek. However, exactly why this happens is not yet fully understood.
“There are a number of ways in which psychological factors can influence physical health,” he said. “First is that optimistic people tend to act in healthier ways—studies show that optimistic people exercise more, eat healthier diets, and have higher quality sleep. Second is that optimistic people use healthier coping styles…like cognitive restructuring, acceptance of circumstances that cannot be changed and planning for further challenges. Third is that optimism may directly impact our biological functioning.”
Optimism is not about burying your head in the sand when things get tough; rather, it is about reframing a situation to look for potential solutions and maintain a sense of hope for the future. “Heritability studies have found optimism to be a little more than 25 percent genetic,” Koga said. The rest is down to environmental factors. “Factors such as childhood environment, education, financial stability.”
“It’s also important to recognize that there are social and structural circumstances that affect optimism,” she said. Even so, in her most recent study, the relationship between optimism and health outcomes was clear irrespective of background and racial demographic.
“The good news is that there are studies showing that optimism can be modified,” Koga said. “With active intervention you can train yourself to be more optimistic.”
But how do you do that? “The best possible self intervention is to identify your goals and then imagine a future where you reach all those goals,” Koga said. This method, called the ‘best possible self’ intervention, has been backed up by numerous scientific studies. Another method Koga listed was writing gratitude journals: “Think about positive life events, listing three positive things that happened to you each day–small things, like how good your coffee was.”
Dan Buettner, founder of the well-being initiative Blue Zones Projects, has spent 20 years studying the five areas in the world where people have the longest life expectancy, the so-called Blue Zones.
He had some different advice: “We know that behaviors are measurably contagious,” he told Newsweek. “People in Blue Zones are living longer and are happier than most of us as a result of their environment. Rather than sign up for some positive psychology class, proactively make a friend who you know is positive and optimistic. For every new happy person you add to your network, your own happiness goes up.”
Correction 10/10/22, 3:46 a.m. ET: The original article contained a misspelling of Dan Buettner’s name.
