Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh reviewed more than 100,000 women over 50 years since 1994. They studied their personality traits, and then tracked their death rate and chronic health conditions for an average of eight years.
They discovered that women with an optimistic approach were 14 percent more likely to be alive and 30 percent less likely to die from a chronic illness as opposed to women who were pessimists. Also women with hostile and cynical characteristics were found to have a higher death rate and a 23 percent greater risk of dying from a cancer
define-related condition.
Hilary Tindle, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine declared, “Optimistic people have more friends and a larger social network on which they can rely during crises; they also tend to cope better on their own with stress, a risk factor that has been associated with high blood pressure, heart disease and early death in previous studies.”
Unsure Tindle questioned, "What is the link? What is the mechanism? That's one thing my study can't answer."
The researchers admitted that it was a trifle difficult to predict if optimism was in itself responsible for stress resistance and reduction of health problems or whether optimism led to a healthier lifestyle. Or maybe it was heady combination of both.
Medical research has shown that positive people have an unusual good health and they age well. Their bodies appear to have a much higher stamina level and a better ability to fight disease. They usually live longer than the people who allow their lives to be lead by negativity. Of course, it is important to live a positive life, because it is so much more fulfilling. Optimism is synonymous with positive mood and good morale.
According to Tindle, previous research also hinted that a positive attitude was closely related to a healthier "risk profile."
She added that optimistic people, "They are less likely to smoke, they are more likely to be active and they are more likely to have a lower BMI [body mass indexdefine]. All of these are risk factors that certainly matter for length of life and health."
The findings were reported at the American Psychosomatic Society's annual meeting Thursday.
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