Optimistic people live longer

Optimism: Health self-assessment has an impact on life expectancy

10.02.2012

An optimistic assessment of one's own health prolongs life, concluding a recent study by Swiss researchers at the University of Zurich. The scientists found that the risk of dying over the 30-year study period at a „very bad“ Assessment of their own health was about three times higher than one „very good“. Mortality was also almost twice as high for women when the subjects considered that their health was „very bad“ einstuften.

More than 8,000 Swiss surveyed to assess their health
At the beginning of their long-term study at the end of the 1970s, researchers from the Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Zurich had interviewed around 8,250 Swiss people to assess their own health and then subjected the study participants to an intensive health check. After more than 30 years, study leader Matthias Bopp and colleagues from the Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine have now analyzed the connection between the self-assessment of the state of health and the mortality of the subjects. That surprising result: The self-evaluation had a high predictive value in terms of the „Chance to survive or die“, This is the message of the University of Zurich.

Risk of death among optimists lowest
According to the Swiss researchers took the risk of dying „from the most optimistic to the most pessimistic“. The chances of survival lay in an assessment of one's own health as „very well“ by far the highest among both men and women. So was the risk of dying in the same age men with „very bad“ Self-rating 3.3 times higher and among women with „very bad“ Health 1.9 times. The increased chance of survival with optimistic self-assessment has confirmed, according to the Swiss scientists, independent of other significant factors such as educational level, civil status, possible exposure to smoking, medication, chronic diseases, high blood pressure and high blood sugar. The relationship between one's own health assessment and the risk of death has been only slightly mitigated by the other risk factors, write Bopp and colleagues. Also „Smokers live longer when they are optimists“, explained the study leader.

Health self-assessment to predict life expectancy
„The way people assess their health determines their likelihood of survival over the next few decades“, said the University of Zurich in the current press release. The optimistic or pessimistic assessment of one's own health is therefore a good predictor of life expectancy. In which „Optimism means having resources at your disposal to help you grow old“, explained the study director Matthias Bopp. The preventive physician at the Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, David Fäh, added: The „Results suggest that people who care for their health very well have qualities that promote and sustain their health.“ Here, according to the expert, factors such as „a positive attitude to life, an optimistic view of things and a fundamental satisfaction with one's own life“ play an essential role.

Although previous studies have shown that pessimistic people die earlier. However, until now it has remained unclear whether they may be less concerned about their health or already ill and therefore develop a negative attitude towards life. The researchers from the University of Zurich have also provided clarity in this area with their long-term study. So do that „steady increase in risk and the long duration of over 30 years between the self-assessment and the end of the observation period, it is virtually impossible that existing diseases or a dark premonition are the main causes of the observed relationship“, emphasized the study director Matthias Bopp.

Doctors should consider the self-assessment of patients
The confirmed link between self-assessment and survival is also supported by the World Health Organization (WHO)'s broad understanding of the notion of health. Health is not only classified as an absence of illness, but as a complete physical, mental and social well-being. In addition, the self-assessment of patients for their own health should also be taken into account in the context of medical treatment, the Swiss researchers continue. „Good doctors should not only look for the presence of risk factors or diseases, but also examine what health resources their patients have and, if necessary, promote and consolidate them“, explained David Fäh. Here, the self-assessment can provide clear evidence of the resources available to patients. For men who are on the question of their health „I do not know“ but caution should also be exercised. Because they had in the study almost as high a risk of death as the men who with „very bad“ responded, said study director Matthias Bopp. This result is attributable to the fact that the men in question actually care for their health rather than „bad“ would not like to admit this and therefore „I do not know“ reply. (Fp)

Also read:
Optimism strengthens the immune system?
Negative messages are ignored by humans

Image: Bernd Boscolo