Yes, Optimists Really Can Live Longer Lives

I don’t know about you but when I heard that Dick Van Dyke made it to 100, I felt a real flush of excitement. He did it! 100! A whole century of living and what a life well-lived, too.

To celebrate this monumental occassion, the actor released ’100 Rules to Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life’, a book filled with life advice, stories, and reflections on how he has lived a happy, healthy life for so long.

One of the key components to a happy life, he says, is being an optimist and it turns out, the science is on his side with this one. Yep, just shifting your attitude and approach to life could make a difference.

Hope is a powerful force

While it may sound a little too simple that optimism can make such a huge difference in our quality of life, optimism and hope are closely linked and a study published earlier this year found that hope may be key to giving our lives meaning.

Which tracks, right?

Additionally, another study also found that people who were more optimistic lived between 11% and 15% longer than their pessimistic counterparts.

Finally, in 2022, a study which looked at around 160,000 women from a range of ethnic backgrounds found that those who reported being more optimistic were more likely to live into their 90s compared to pessimists.

Of course, this doesn’t tell the full story

While optimism can play a key role in our overall wellbeing and happiness, it would be remiss of me to not consider how genetics, lifestyle and poverty can play into quality of life.

Dick Van Dyke was worth around $50 million according to Hello Magazine and I’m sure a lot of us would be happier, calmer and more rested if we had that kind of wealth (or even a fraction of it) keeping us comfortable throughout our lives. 

Improving material conditions will almost always improve health and wellness and in this landscape, it is hard for most of us to find that kind of comfort and security.

How to be more optimistic

Where we can, though, we must always dig for hope and understand that there is a lot of goodness surrounding us. 

Optimism is a practice and snapping yourself out of negative thinking and always expecting the worst of outcomes takes time to really work but, according to Durham University, there are things you can do to switch to an optimistic mindset.

They say: “Research shows optimism can change over time, and can be cultivated by engaging in simple exercises. For example, visualising and then writing about your “best possible self” (a future version of yourself who has accomplished your goals) is a technique that studies have found can significantly increase optimism, at least temporarily.

“But for best results, the goals need to be both positive and reasonable, rather than just wishful thinking. Similarly, simply thinking about positive future events can also be effective for boosting optimism.”

Brb, I need to envision my dream life.