Women with a more positive outlook on life may live longer than female counterparts who hold a more pessimistic view of the world, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from the Nurses' Health Study, which started in 1976 and contains survey data for about 70,000 female registered nurses. Researchers involved in the Nurses' Health Study polled nurses about their physical and mental health, along with habits related to diet, exercise, drinking and smoking, according to Reuters. In 2004, the survey added a question about optimism.
Researchers in the new study examined the Nurses' Health Study's survey data from 2004 to 2012 to assess what women said about optimism and how their responses relate to their survival odds. They sorted the women into four different groups, based on optimism levels, and found that the most optimistic women were 29 percent less likely to die of all causes during the study period, compared to the least optimistic women.
The optimistic women had a 16 percent lower chance of dying from cancer, a 38 percent lower risk of death from heart disease or respiratory disease, a 39 percent lower chance of dying from a stroke and a 52 percent lower risk of death from an infection, reports Reuters.
Optimistic people tend to act in healthier ways — like exercising more often and maintaining healthier diets — which can reduce risk of death, according to Kaitlin Hagan, one of the study's lead researchers and a public health researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
"Optimism may also have a direct impact on our biological functioning," Ms. Hagan told Reuters via email. "Other studies have shown that higher optimism is linked with lower inflammation, healthier lipid levels and higher antioxidants."
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