Imagine someone holding a glass of water and he asked you whether it is half-empty or half-full. What your answer will be could make a difference, not only in your daily health, but in how long you live.
So say the results of a new Mayo Clinic study that tracked 839 people over 30 years. In the 1960s study participants took a “standardized test” to determine whether they were optimistic, pessimistic or somewhere in between. Those who scored high on the pessimism scale turned out to have a 19-percent greater chance of premature death than those who scored more optimistically.
This reminds me of the statement of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. “The optimist sees opportunity in every danger,” he pointed out, “the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity.” American author Ralph Waldo Emerson echoed the same sentiment: “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” Well, that’s being optimistic.
“I believe we have compelling evidence that optimists and pessimists differ markedly in how long they will live,” commented psychologist Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania in his editorial accompanying the Mayo Clinic study. “It is not clear if pessimism shortens life, optimism prolongs life, or both.”
For decades, psychologists have studied the link between positive thinking and physical and mental health. Seligman, the man behind Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, claimed that it’s more important to change negative thought patterns into positive ones than to worry about being optimistic.
The picture of optimism Seligman paints is not one of Pollyanna-like blindness to reality, but of a learned optimism grounded in accuracy and non-negative thinking. (For the uninformed, Pollyanna is a character of a famous novel who goes through life finding a good side to everything.)
Based on the results of several large-scale, long-term, carefully controlled experiments, Seligman discovered that optimists are more successful than pessimists—optimistic politicians win more elections, optimistic students get better grades, optimistic athletes win more contests, and optimistic salespeople make more money.
What’s the difference between an optimist and a pessimist? Felix Adler differentiates, “An optimist is a person who sees only the lights in the picture, whereas a pessimist sees only the shadows.” Albert Schweitzer shares, “To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic.”
Here’s one from William Arthur Ward: “The optimist pleasantly ponders how high his kite will fly; the pessimist woefully wonders how soon his kite will fall.” By this time, you probably understand why an optimist is better than a pessimist. Think of light and dark, positive and negative, good and bad, first and last. Okay, I won’t go on. You get the idea.
“The essence of optimism,” says Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.”
Between the two, optimists are the usual winners. “In this world,” explains David Landes, “the optimists have it, not because they are always right, but because they are positive. Even when they are wrong they are positive, and that is the way of achievement, correction, improvement and success. Educated, eye-open optimism pays.”
Now, why do people who think positively live longer? According to Seligman, there are at least four ways that optimism can affect longevity. For one, optimists tend to be less passive than pessimists and less likely to develop “learned helplessness” or negative and debilitating responses to things that happen to them. For another, optimists tend to be more likely to practice preventive health measures because they believe their actions make a difference.
The third reason: Optimists suffer depression at a markedly lower rate than pessimists; depression is associated with mortality. And finally, optimists’ immune systems have been shown to function more effectively than those of pessimists.
But then, optimism isn’t always the answer. “The idea that optimists are healthier than pessimists is overly simplistic,” says Dr. Howard Friedman, a psychology professor at the University of California. “Many times, excessive optimism can be harmful to one’s health. This is especially evident among teenagers, who take many risks.”
Friedman contends it can be damaging to think optimistically when it comes to difficult health choices, like quitting cigarettes, using condoms or wearing seatbelts. “I do not agree that in general we could try to make everyone more optimistic. There is absolutely no evidence that trying to do so will improve the general health of the people,” Friedman says.
Whether you are an optimistic or a pessimist, listen to the words of Christian D. Larsen: “Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. Make all your friends feel there is something in them. Look at the sunny side of everything. Think only of the best, work only for the best and expect only the best. Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your won. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give everyone a smile. Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others. Be too big for worry and too noble for anger.”