Researchers followed 159,255 women and found that those who are optimistic could be more likely to live longer and live past the age of 90 compared to those who were not as optimistic. In fact, optimists were 10% more likely to live past 90 than pessimists were.
Optimism was associated with a 5.4% increase in lifespan, which is the same as adding an extra 4.4 years to life on average. This remained true with external factors such as chronic health conditions, depression, and social and economic backgrounds considered.
Experts said, “Of note, exercise has been widely recognized as an important factor for health and studies have shown that regular exercise adds 0.4-4.2 years of life… Thus our findings suggest the impact of optimism may be comparable to that of exercise.”
Source: Indy 100