News Report: 20/4/2000
Be happy and live longer
MINNESOTA --- Research at the Mayo Clinic, reporting on a study that spanned three decades, said yesterday they have found that optimistic people [such as in the Dashper Family's 'Optimism Gene' ?] live about 19% longer than pessimists.
"It confirmed our common sense belief, " said Toshihiko Maruta, a Psychiatrist who was a lead researcher in the project. "It tells us that mind and body are linked and that attitude has an impact on the final outcome, death."
The finding came from a look at 839 people living in the Minnesota county where Mayo is headquartered. They were among a group given a personality survey between 1962 and 1965 which detected how people habitually explain the causes of life's events, and then classified them as optimists, pessimists or a bit of both.
In looking at the test subjects 30 years later and comparing them against their expected survival rates, the researchers found that those classified as optimists had a significantly better survival rate while there was a 19% increase in the risk of death for the pessimists.
The report did not try to explain why positive attitude was equated with longevity. It is said that optimists may be less likely to develop depression and helplessness, or they might be more positive in seeking medical help and taking care of themselves, with less fatalistic thinking about their own health.
Martin Seligman, a Psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said pessimism was identifiable early in life and could be changed.
-Reuters