TOUGH old folk live longer, according to a study.
Experts from Sun Yat-Sen University in China found emotional resilience can halve your risk of an early death.
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They said people who roll with life’s punches and cope well during hard times or after losing loved ones tend to have better physical health.
Emotional toughness can help to stave off depression and loneliness, which are known to shorten your lifespan.
Study author Dr Yiqiang Zhan said: “Positive emotions may mitigate the negative impact of accumulated adversity on people’s mental health.”
The research, in the journal BMJ Mental Health, used data from 10,569 over-50s in the USA.
It used a questionnaire to score people’s psychological resilience then compared it to their physical health.
Toughest people 53% less likely to die young
Dr Zhan said there was a “significant association” and higher scorers lived longer.
The least resilient people were 53 per cent less likely to survive for another 10 years than the most resilient.
Dr Zhan said a strong mindset reduced the self-rated impact of disability or illness on people’s lives and appeared to slow the ageing process.
Studies regularly find links between good mental health and longer life.
A Canadian study in 2017 found depression knocked years off someone’s life expectancy.
A 2023 paper showed lonely people were a third more likely to die young.
Dr Zhan said someone’s toughness can be affected by their sex, genetics and hormones and can change over time.
He added: “Various factors including meaning in life, positive emotions, self-rated health and satisfaction with social support, are potential influences on psychological resilience.
“Our findings underscore the potential effectiveness of promoting resilience.”
Other key ways science shows us to live longer include eating healthily and exercising, as well as staying socially active and connected to loved ones.
HOW TO LIVE TO 100
FIVE ‘Blue Zones’ around the world are famous for having such long-lived residents, with unusual numbers of locals living to the ripe old age of 100 and beyond.
The official zones are in Sardinia (Italy), Ikaria (Greece), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Loma Linda (California, USA) and Okinawa (Japan).
Scientists study them closely to work out just why people are living so long, and they have found nine key health-boosting habits which could help us all.
In brief, they are:
- Move naturally – they don’t all exercise hard but live constantly active lifestyles
- Live with purpose – they give themselves a reason for getting up in the morning
- Reduce stress – they are prone to worry like the rest of us but make a regular effort to chill out
- Don’t gorge on food – they stop eating when they are 80 per cent full, instead of stuffing their bellies
- Eat mostly plants – their diets are heavily plant-based with meat, fish or eggs only a couple of times a week
- Drink wine in moderation – most of them drink wine but little and often instead of bingeing
- Belong to a community – most of them spend time with a regular community or network of others
- Commit to your loved ones – many live with or near their parents and grandchildren, and invest in having a loving family
- Pick your friends – they spend time with friends with similar healthy lifestyles and goals
