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Optimists are more likely to be healthy, and to maintain their health through diet and exercise.
Optimists in general also pay closer attention to information about their health and remember it more
clearly than do pessimists. Optimists have better heart health, longevity, and general quality of life.
In the Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement (OLSAR) people who were between 50 and
80 years old were interviewed regarding their health practices including diet and medication use.
Individuals with more positive self-perceptions of aging tended to practice more preventive health
behaviors, and lived on average 7.5 years longer than those with less positive outlooks. The Nun
Study includes 678 Catholic sisters 75 to 107 years of age who are members of the School Sisters of
Notre Dame congregation. When researchers looked at the autobiographies written by the nuns when
they entered the convent (around age twenty), they found that those who wrote in optimistic terms
when young were much more likely to live longer, even up to nine years longer, than their less
exuberant counterparts.
Some people consciously or unconsciously resist a positive outlook, as though positive thinking is
“Pollyanna”-like, making them appear less thoughtfully critical, or less savvy. Habitual negativity is
self destructive; unfortunately, many intelligent people fall into this pattern. Negative events hold
more drama also making them more alluring; it is more exciting to many people, and to the media, to
discuss a scandal, an illness, or some other disaster than the fact that things might have gone well on
a certain day. The German word “Schadenfreude”, meaning taking pleasure in the bad luck of
others, can be a part of this mentality. You can challenge this tendency in conversation; this requires
much more creativity than scandal-mongering.
What if you are the classic “grumpy old man” or woman? You can learn to be more positive. The key
is to change internal messages that are negative into internal messages that are positive. Practice
replacing the negative voice in your head with a quick positive one. Silly as it seems, this can lead to
positive thoughts occurring naturally. And if they don’t? Learn to laugh at your grumpiness, and invite
others to do so. At least, you’ll have a sense of humor, which is also good for your health!
(return to previous page)
Optimists are more likely to be healthy, and to maintain their health through diet and exercise.
Optimists in general also pay closer attention to information about their health and remember it more
clearly than do pessimists. Optimists have better heart health, longevity, and general quality of life.
In the Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement (OLSAR) people who were between 50 and
80 years old were interviewed regarding their health practices including diet and medication use.
Individuals with more positive self-perceptions of aging tended to practice more preventive health
behaviors, and lived on average 7.5 years longer than those with less positive outlooks. The Nun
Study includes 678 Catholic sisters 75 to 107 years of age who are members of the School Sisters of
Notre Dame congregation. When researchers looked at the autobiographies written by the nuns when
they entered the convent (around age twenty), they found that those who wrote in optimistic terms
when young were much more likely to live longer, even up to nine years longer, than their less
exuberant counterparts.
Some people consciously or unconsciously resist a positive outlook, as though positive thinking is
“Pollyanna”-like, making them appear less thoughtfully critical, or less savvy. Habitual negativity is
self destructive; unfortunately, many intelligent people fall into this pattern. Negative events hold
more drama also making them more alluring; it is more exciting to many people, and to the media, to
discuss a scandal, an illness, or some other disaster than the fact that things might have gone well on
a certain day. The German word “Schadenfreude”, meaning taking pleasure in the bad luck of
others, can be a part of this mentality. You can challenge this tendency in conversation; this requires
much more creativity than scandal-mongering.
What if you are the classic “grumpy old man” or woman? You can learn to be more positive. The key
is to change internal messages that are negative into internal messages that are positive. Practice
replacing the negative voice in your head with a quick positive one. Silly as it seems, this can lead to
positive thoughts occurring naturally. And if they don’t? Learn to laugh at your grumpiness, and invite
others to do so. At least, you’ll have a sense of humor, which is also good for your health!
(return to previous page)
Accentuate the Positive
from Living Older, Living Better! by Katrina Gwinn, MD
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