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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Aging with Panache And A Cheerful Outlook: Lessons from An Ohio Study

Friday August 16, 2002

When I lived in California, I heard lots of hippy dippy holistic types go on as if professing a belief would make it so. They put a happy-go-lucky spin on everything. Most, in fact, took the idea of looking on the bright side to extremes. Repeat enough affirmations and you can have abundance, love, a baby or whatever you want, reason notwithstanding. Now research comes along suggesting they may have been on to something. Probably not much, but something! Science seems to have found that denial works! Either that or I'm misreading the evidence.

I'm referring to recent stories about an Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement begun in 1975. This survey led investigators to associate the way people choose to think about aging as the key to a longer life. Other studies over the years have provided similar results with respect to health status. What people report about their health, that is, "excellent" versus something else like "terrible," always seems to be a better predictor of their actual health than blood pressure readings, cholesterol levels, heart rates and the like. So, the new Ohio studies should not be a big surprise. Still, they are of interest, especially if you are getting old, say, over 50.

The Ohio researchers (from Yale) tracked a total of 660 residents, about half men and half women in ages ranging from 50 to 94, all of whom lived in small towns in that mid-western State. They discovered that those with positive attitudes about getting older lasted 7 1/2 years longer than those not so enthused about the prospect. Typical questions explored responses to such statements as "As you get older, you get less useful." Other examples include "Are you as happy" and "Do you have as much pep as you had in your younger days?"

What kind of questions were these, anyway? Were these researchers kidding? Of course people get less useful as they get older, if not less happy and "peppy" as the years pass! Did the 94 year-old really and truly think he was more useful and "peppy" now than, let's say, decades ago as a member of an Ohio sports team or business when he was but a mere 50 or so? If he answered that question by stating that he believed he is just as useful now and as peppy as ever, he's either a demented old loon, in deep denial or just having a little fun with the folks conducting the Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement. There could be other reasons for the fact he lived 7 1/2 years (on average) longer than the other 94 year-olds who said, "Of course I get less useful and peppy, and naturally I'm not at all happy about it! Neither is my 25 year-old coed girlfriend!" Or, something like that. For being honest, he has to give up 7 1/2 years? Is that what these Ohio researchers are trying to tell us?

Oh well, in a way this all seems fair enough. Why should the gods, nature or the Grim Reaper harvest those who want to stay around, especially if they are upbeat about having to pay the price of aging (slower 10K times, memory problems, difficulties getting dates, for examples?) Maybe there IS justice in this world, after all.

One of the theories to explain the data is that the survivors with the bright side outlooks simply internalized the good feelings that go with learned optimism from an early age. That upbeat attitude is what served them, not the answers they gave in the surveys. You probably guessed as much. We would all expect folks with better attitudes about getting older (and everything else) to live longer than others less positive about their situations. The key variable, then, might well be a positive, overall optimistic outlook. That's just one more reason, as we go into yet another nice summer weekend, you might want to do your best to be well and always look on the bright side of life. Even if you have to fake a bit of optimism about getting older!

Domain: mental
Subdomain: emotional intelligence

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