You Can Usually Tell How Long Someone Will Live By Their Answer To One Question, Says Study
PeopleImages | ShutterstockAs I get older, I find myself naturally drawn to news reports and research findings about how to live longer. Longevity has turned into a booming business, but many, if not most, of the promises made by the industry are based on little more than wishful thinking and anecdotal evidence.
One study brought actual scientific evidence to the table, though. A team of European researchers examined different factors that played a role in how long a person lives. They published their findings in Psychological Science in 2016, and the biggest predictor of living a long life turned out to be pretty surprising.
Scientists found that how someone feels about their health says more about their chances of living a long life than typical measures of health do.
The study involved over 6,000 British adults aged 41 to 93 at the start, with an average age of about 65 years. The participants were followed over 29 years, from 1983 to 2012, for researchers to get a full picture of their health.
The study was quite exhaustive. Every few years, researchers collected the participants' medical data related to things like blood pressure, cholesterol, and whether or not they used tobacco or alcohol. The participants were also responsible for tracking some of their daily activities, like hours slept and medications taken.
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They provided ratings for how difficult it was for them to do things like use the stairs and cook to monitor any possible decline. Researchers assessed their cognitive abilities like memory and processing speed several times over the years as well.
The extensive study included 65 different mortality risk factors, but scientists found that the most important predictor of longevity was how someone felt about their health. Participants who just felt like they were healthy lived longer than those who didn't. So, you might actually be able to believe your way into living longer.
While this is surprising information, it's not an isolated discovery.
The scientific and medical experts who worked on the study obviously didn't expect to find that people's own opinions about their health, even if they were misguided, were the best way to determine how long they would live. They aren't the only researchers to come to this conclusion, though.
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In 2017, Stanford University scholars had similar findings in a study of their own. They observed that people who think they're less active than others their age don't live as long, even if their perception isn't completely accurate. The Stanford professors thought this could be a result of the placebo effect.
This refers to someone who thinks they received a certain treatment and goes on to experience the benefits of it, even though they didn't actually get treated with anything. In the case of the Stanford study, participants didn't necessarily exercise more, but believing that they did caused changes to happen anyway.
Although it's a little confusing, it seems like positive thinking does play a role in your physical health.
It may sound like pseudo-science, but Johns Hopkins researchers found that people who had a higher risk of developing heart disease because of their family history still had a lower chance of having a heart attack if they just had a "positive outlook."
Experts aren't totally sure what causes this to happen. It could be due to their positivity leading them to make healthier choices in general. Or, they might have less inflammation in their bodies and stronger immune systems because their stress levels are relatively low.
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This sounds nice, especially if you're super optimistic, but that's not everyone's reality. Someone who's dealing with a mental health condition like depression can't really be expected to positively think their way into living longer, just like someone with a chronic illness would likely struggle to maintain a positive attitude in the face of daily challenges.
There's no denying that there is a link between thinking you're healthy and living a longer life. Some things are out of our control, though, and it shouldn't be mistaken as some kind of cure-all.
Frank McAndrew is an evolutionary social psychologist whose research has appeared in dozens of different professional journals, and it is regularly featured in popular media outlets such as The New Yorker, NPR, and The New York Times.
