Contents:
- Medical Video: What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness | Robert Waldinger
- What is it like, optimism?
- How optimistic can you make a woman long?
- Optimism can reduce the cause of death by almost 30 percent
- Then what about men?
Medical Video: What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness | Robert Waldinger
Recent research shows that women who have an optimistic attitude in life have the opportunity to live longer than women who are pessimistic, aka not optimistic.
Eric Kim, head of research from the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues stated that one way to improve quality of life and improve health is to have an optimistic nature. In fact, research conducted at the University of Illinois found that optimists tend to have better heart health than those who are pessimistic.
What is it like, optimism?
Research published in the American Journal of Epidemiology defines optimism as a mental attitude that is shown by positive thoughts and full of expectations and believes that something good will always come. Optimistic people always have positive thoughts as difficult as any condition.
Some studies show that optimistic people tend to have better physical and mental health than those who are pessimistic. Pessimistic attitude is the opposite of optimism, which is looking at things from the bad side and always has bad expectations.
How optimistic can you make a woman long?
Kaitlin Hagan, one of the public health researchers at Brigham & Women 's Hospital and Harvard University in Boston who contributed to this study stated that optimistic people tend to act in healthier ways in life. For example, doing sports more often, eating healthy foods, and other things that ultimately have an impact on the reduced risk of death and indirectly prolongs life.
Hagan also added that optimism might also have a direct impact on the body's biological functions. Other studies show that a high level of optimism in a person affects lower levels of inflammation, healthier levels of lipids (fat in the blood), and higher antioxidants.
Here are three things that cause optimism for health, namely:
- Optimistic people care more about their health and what makes them healthier.
- Optimists usually have a healthy lifestyle.
- When faced with problems, optimistic people have effective ways to overcome them rather than respond negatively.
Optimism can reduce the cause of death by almost 30 percent
To see further the benefits of optimism on health and the risk of death, Kim and his colleagues analyzed data from 2004-2012 involving around 70 thousand women who were part of the Nurses Health Study. The Nurses Health Study is a study that assesses women's health through surveys conducted in every two years.
The factors examined in the study were those related to physical and mental health and habits related to things such as diet, disease history, exercise intensity, smoking, and drinking alcohol. During 2004-2012, the survey was added to questions about optimism.
The result, compared with women who have a lower optimistic level, those who have a higher optimistic level have a 30 percent lower risk of dying faster.
Researchers also found that the most optimistic women were less likely to die of various diseases compared to the least optimistic women, including:
- 16 percent lower for dying from cancer
- 38 percent lower for dying from heart disease
- 39 percent lower for dying from a stroke
- 38 percent lower to die from infection
Then what about men?
Eric Kim stated that his research did not include men as respondents so the results included only women.
However, previous research has found a link between optimism and health for both men and women. It turns out the results are the same, namely optimism has a good influence on health and is able to prolong life.
Although negative thinking is not the only factor that plays a role in a person's age, Dr. Susan Albers, a psychologist from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio states that optimism is important to grow and cannot be ignored. An optimistic attitude can be grown if it does not come naturally. Consultation with psychologists, gathering with people who have a positive attitude to watching films that have positive messages can be a way to foster this attitude.
