People who are optimistic may live longer, healthier lives because they are less exposed to stressful events, new research suggests.
The research is published in the Journal of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences.
The researchers followed 233 older men who completed an optimism questionnaire at the beginning of the study.
They were then asked to report daily stressors 14 years later, along with positive and negative moods on eight consecutive evenings up to three times over an eight-year period.
The researchers found that the more optimistic men reported both lower negative mood and more explicitly positive mood.
The group also reported having fewer stressors, which explained their lower levels of negative mood.
The researchers do not know for sure how optimists minimise their levels of stress.
However, they believe that, as well as avoiding arguments, traffic jams or other annoyances, they may just not perceive such events as stressful.
Dr Lewina Lee, a clinical psychologist at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and assistant professor of psychiatry at Boston University, said:
“We found that more optimistic men reported having fewer daily stressors, which partially explained their lower levels of negative mood,” Lee said.
“That suggested to us that perhaps more optimistic men either limited their exposure to stressful situations, or that they were less likely to perceive or label situations as stressful.”
Prof Andrew Steptoe, head of behavioural science and health at UCL, who was not involved in the study, added:
“There is evidence that greater optimism and less pessimism is linked with reduced risk of future ill-health.
“This could be related to lifestyle – greater physical activity, better diet, less smoking – though optimism also has biological correlates, such as lower systemic inflammation, that may be health protective.”