Optimism Vs. Death: Women Who Are More Optimistic Could Live Longer, Study Reveals

A group of researchers from Harvard University claimed that an optimistic outlook among women may lead to longer life. The theory is based on a research that analyzed the correlation in optimism and mortality on 70,000 female nurses. Reportedly, the study found that 25 percent of the respondents have 31 percent reduced the risk of death.

The study leader Eric Kim from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston expressed that the major causes of mortality could be reduced by being optimistic combined with healthy lifestyle, including better sleep patterns and coping mechanism, PulseHeadlines reported. Furthermore, the findings suggested that women who are more optimistic are less likely to die from cancers, heart and respiratory problems and infections.

One of the study's lead author Kaitlin Hagan who is a public health researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University said that people who are optimistic tend to live a healthier lifestyle which could reduce the risk of mortality. "Optimism may also have a direct impact on our biological functioning," Hagan continued in an email as per a report from Business Insider.

"Other studies have shown that higher optimism is linked with lower inflammation, healthier lipid levels, and higher antioxidants," the author added. The members of the study defined optimism as "the belief that good things will happen in the future," Los Angeles Times reported. The findings were actually derived from a long-term observational study among female nurses called the Nurse's Health Study which started back in 1976.

However, the researchers filtered the respondents from the original data and were left with only 70,000 participants. They grouped them into four according to how optimistic they were. It was revealed that women who were more optimistic were the ones who received more education and had higher physical activities.

The researchers then consulted the state vital records and the National Death Index to identify the cause of deaths of the participants. The statistical analysis of the mortality risks among 98 percent of the respondents pointed that there is a decreased risk of death among those with an increased level of optimism. If the study will be considered true, then women may be taught to live and think more positively to live longer lives.

Do you believe that optimism may reduce the risk of certain diseases as well as death? Let us know your thoughts be dropping a comment below. Also, you can watch a video about optimism in the clip here.