For 99-year-old Harry Whalen, the key to a long and fruitful life is keeping an upbeat attitude.
Whalen, who dances in the hallways of his Toronto retirement community Donway Place as his 93-year-old wife Brenda watches, does things most people his age wouldn鈥檛 dream of.
He recently took the CN Tower EdgeWalk, which bills itself as 鈥淭oronto鈥檚 most extreme attraction,鈥� and even had a small role in the musical 鈥淐ome From Away.鈥�
鈥淚 guess I have the attitude of 鈥榯ake one day at a time.鈥� That鈥檚 the reason why I tell a lot of jokes and I keep busy all the time,鈥� he told 麻豆影视 while wearing a shirt that said 鈥淐elebrating 99 years of awesomeness.鈥�
鈥淚f you keep down in the dumps all the time, that鈥檚 another year lost.鈥�
For the 101-year-old Frances Burrows, an optimistic outlook helped her cope with breast cancer, heart problems and the death of her husband.
鈥淚 just take each day, really, as they come,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 never think about my age."
Burrows at one point suffered a bout of depression, but doctors found low levels of sodium in her blood as the culprit. With the issue fixed, she now travels to Florida every year and recently got a seat in the cockpit alongside the pilots.
Burrows鈥� son Richard said maintaining his mother鈥檚 upbeat attitude is about keeping her moving.
鈥淲e try and give her things to look forward to, for instance little trips or longer trips,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen she comes back, she knows things won鈥檛 stay stationary.鈥�
Whalen and Burrows鈥� philosophy appears to follow , which looked at the data of more than 71,000 older men and women from the U.S. and found those who remained the most optimistic tended to live 11-15 per cent longer and were 50-70 per cent more likely to reach 鈥渆xceptional longevity,鈥� defined as someone who lives to be the age of 85 or older.
鈥淲e were surprised, but we felt reassured by our findings because we found similar associations in both men and women,鈥� said Lewina O. Lee, the lead researcher in the study. 鈥淥ur results replicated across the sexes and across the two samples that used somewhat different measures of optimism.鈥�
The researchers looked at a pair of surveys involving optimism -- 69,744 women from the 2004 version of the Nurses鈥� Health Study and 1,429 men from the 1986 version of the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study -- and conducted a follow up 10 and 30 years later.
The study found the most optimistic women lived 14.9 per cent longer than the least optimistic women, while the most optimistic men lived 10.9 per cent longer than the least optimistic men. These results take into account demographics, baseline health conditions and depression.
High levels of optimism are similar when it comes to extending a person鈥檚 lifespan as avoiding Type II diabetes and heart disease, the study suggests.
While prior studies found that increased optimism reduced the risk of a premature death, this is the first study to suggest it can actually promote a longer lifespan. Lee said further study is needed to determine these correlations exist.
鈥淚nitial evidence suggests that people who are more optimistic tend to have goals and the confidence to reach them,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey may be better at regulating their emotions during stressful situations, but those are initial findings and really more research is needed to help us understand those pathways.鈥�
Studies suggest that people can learn to be more optimistic with therapy and even with more simple exercises like writing positive messages.
Others, like Burrows, keep their spirits up with a little liquid cheer.
鈥淚 put whisky in my tea and rum in my coffee,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 have two cups of coffee a day.鈥�
