If you’re a Debbie Downer, it’s annoying everyone around you, but that’s not the worst part. According to a new study, it could be shortening your life, too. It turns out, being a glass-half-full type could actually help you live longer.
Newly published research finds that men and women with the highest levels of optimism have an 11% to 15% longer lifespan on average than people who don’t think positively. The study of 70,000 women and 1,500 men tracked the females for 10 years and the fellas for 30 years and had them complete surveys ranking their level of optimism. Study authors found that the highest-scoring optimists had the highest chance of living to be 85 or older.
Even when researchers accounted for health behaviors including alcohol use, diet and exercise, the most cheerful participants were found to live longer than the pessimists. Researcher Lewina Lee says this is one of the few studies to link positive thinking to healthy aging, and she points out the best part: a positive attitude is “cheaper than any drug out there.”
Source: New York Post