From The Globe and Mail, March 22:
A German study last month revealed that older adults who held a dim view of their futures lived longer and healthier lives than those who had rosy outlooks. In an e-mail, researcher Frieder Lang of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg explained that older adults with a bleaker outlook may be more cautious and, thus, adopt a healthier lifestyle.
“Another possible explanation,” he suggested, “is that modest, defensive expectations of what the future may bring may protect the older person when health losses occur, and thus, help older adults to feel more satisfied with their current life.” In other words, by predicting the worst, their reality seemed not so bad by comparison.
The misanthropic Munich paper Süddeutsche Zeitung had this to say on March 2:
For the optimists this is good news. They have no future or only a short one – they don’t have much time to worry about their forthcoming end. It’s the pessimists who have a problem – what to do with the time that has now been given to them?
The one thing the pessimists should not do is boast to the optimists: Hurray! The researchers in Erlangen-Nuremberg say we pessimists will live longer than you will. Because that boast would immediately turn them into optimists and finish them off.
What if you’re neither an optimist nor a pessimist. I see myself more as a pragmatist/opportunist. That probably means an even shorter life which is why I better make the most of it while I’m still alive and kicking
Hoping for the best, expecting the worst seems to pay off…sometimes.
So how much longer do the pessimists live and are they as happy?
Could it be that pessimists have lower blood pressure?
maybe it just *feels* longer.
What are the chances that McDonald’s “Happy Face” will change to a sad one?