Emotional well-being as important as physical for longevity, study finds

Focusing only on physical health isn’t enough for longevity – emotional and social well-being are equally important, new research has found.

Researchers looked at more than 8,000 older adults’ optimal well-being, which they defined as having social support, positive perceptions of ageing, physical and mental health, happiness, life satisfaction and the ability to carry out daily activities without severe limitations.

Dr Mabel Ho is the study’s first author and a recent doctoral graduate at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and the Institute of Life Course and Ageing..

She said: “Our study of over 8,000 older adults found that many who were not in optimal well-being at the start of the study were able to regain it within just three years,” referring to one in four older adults whose health significantly improved.

“These findings challenge the notion that well-being inevitably declines with age and highlight the potential for positive change later in life.”

The study was a secondary analysis of data collected from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

More than one in five Americans will be aged 65 or older by 2040, and nearly three in five of them will need long-term services and support.

In 2023, about 93 per cent of adults aged 65 or older in the US reported having at least one chronic disease, such as heart disease or diabetes.

Ho said: “Individuals who began with strong psychological and emotional well-being were nearly five times more likely to reach optimal overall health by the end of the study.”

The results “also underscored the critical influence of supportive relationships, socioeconomic conditions and healthy lifestyle choices such as regular physical activity, not smoking and good sleep,” she added.

However, the study’s findings may not apply universally since the research was conducted in Canada, where patients have access to universal healthcare.

“These findings provide valuable insight into ageing and well-being in the context of a high-income country with universal healthcare,” Ho said.

“However, it remains unclear how well these results translate to the US, where life-long universal healthcare is not available; similarly, more research is needed to understand how older adults in diverse global settings experience and regain well-being in low- and middle-income countries, where healthcare access, social supports and economic conditions can differ significantly from Canada.”

Physically, there are three key lifestyle changes to support healthy ageing – regular exercise, good sleep and a nutritious diet.

While those habits are vital, they are less effective if issues like loneliness and a lack of positive relationships are not addressed.

“One of the things I always say to my patients is, believe it or not, there’s no disease, dis-ease or lack of ease, without your mind.

Dr Andrew Freeman is director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver, and was not involved in the study.”

He said: “The mind-body connection is unbelievably underestimated by Western medicine.”

Chronically lonely adults aged 50 and older have a 56 per cent higher risk of stroke than adults lower on the loneliness scale.

Stress reduction and frequent socialising were also linked to improved cognition in people with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.