Your interest in longevity may be entrepreneurial; after all, people who want to live longer, healthier lives are a huge market. Or maybe, if you hope to be wealthy, there’s what Warren Buffett called the Methuselah technique: a long life and a high rate of return.
More likely, though, your interest in longevity is personal. We all hope to live a longer, healthier life.
The problem is, the recommendation bar for living a longer life can seem impossibly high. One study found you need between 150 and 300 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity to “mitigate” the risk of death associated with sitting. Another study found you need to jog five days a week for 30 to 40 minutes for your body to have the “age progression” of someone nine years younger.
Fortunately, there’s an easier way to add years to your lifespan. Two studies, one that spanned 10 years and the other 30 years, found that “high optimism” was linked to 11 to 15% longer lifespans, even after taking into account factors like health and socioeconomic status.
As the researchers write:
Among psychosocial factors that appear to be potential health assets (e.g., social integration), optimism has some of the strongest and most consistent associations with a wide range of health outcomes, including reduced risk of cardiovascular events, lung function decline, and premature mortality.
Investigators have speculated that optimism may facilitate healthier bio-behavioral processes, and ultimately longevity, because optimism directly contributes to how goals are translated into behaviors.
That’s a lot, so let’s break it down. “Social integration” directly correlates with living longer.
A clinical review of nearly 150 studies published in PLOS Medicine found that people with strong social ties had a 50% better chance of survival, regardless of age, sex, health status, and cause of death, than those with weaker ties. Make and keep a few close friends, you’ll likely live longer.
Yet optimism also directly correlates with living longer, since optimistic people tend to behave differently: While everyone has goals, people who fall on the less optimistic end of the spectrum are much less likely to try to achieve their goals. Why start a journey that feels impossible?
On the flip side, the researchers say “optimism directly contributes to how goals are translated into behaviors.” When the journey seems possible, starting feels much easier.
Sounds good. But still.
Knowing you should be more optimistic, if only to extend your lifespan, is different from actually becoming more optimistic. There isn’t a “more optimistic” switch you can flip.
Or maybe there is. Research shows that approximately 25% of our optimism set-point is genetic.
That means 75% of your level of optimism can be shaped and learned.
For example, participants in a study published in Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry who spent five minutes a day for two weeks imagining their “best possible self”—in terms of professional, relationship, and personal goals—experienced significant increases in optimism.
If visualization isn’t your thing (it isn’t mine), try another approach. If, as Jim Rohn says, we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with, simply spend more time with optimistic people. They’ll be more encouraging. They’ll be more supportive. Their enthusiasm will naturally rub off on you. (Plus, you’ll reap the social integration longevity benefits.)
If spending time in groups isn’t your thing (it kind of isn’t mine), then take a step back and think about your mindset. Generally speaking, people fall into two camps:
- People with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence, ability, and skill are inborn and relatively fixed; that they are what they were born with. Someone with a fixed mindset might say, “I didn’t handle that well. I’m not cut out to be a leader.”
- People with a growth mindset believe that intelligence, ability, and skill can be developed through effort; that we are what we work to become. Someone with a growth mindset might say, “I didn’t handle that well, but next time I’ll make sure I’m more prepared.”
People who embrace a growth mindset believe success is based on effort and application, not innate talent.
Think about a challenge you overcame. A goal you achieved. A time when you doubted yourself, but still persevered. You’ve done it once.
You can do it again.
That, in effect, is a growth mindset. Embrace it.
Not only will you be more successful, you’ll be more likely to live longer, too.
Can’t beat that.
—Jeff Haden
This article originally appeared on Fast Company‘s sister publication, Inc.
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