Do pessimists live better?

• April 29, 2024

Being a pessimistic person with regard to your prospect of future happiness, could allow you to have better health and live longer, compared to those who are optimistic, according to a study by the Friedrich-Alexander University of Nuremberg, Germany.

The older you are, the more pessimistic the authors of the study say that the elderly were those who registered good health, after a large multidisciplinary study that included around 30 thousand participants.

"It is likely that being more pessimistic about their future will encourage older people to take better care of their health, and be more cautious," suggests Frieder Lang, director of the university's gerontological psychology institute .

Also, the researchers observed that the youngest are the most optimistic about their situation five years later, while the older ones, on the other hand, are the most realistic.

In addition, according to Lang, when income is higher and health is better, it is also less optimistic, because the potential for improvement and the possibility of having good health is reduced.

Pessimism is characteristic of melancholic people , but when it is excessive, it can be related to some personality disorder , As the obsessive compulsive Y depressive personality ; However, there are also some positive aspects, according to Psychology Center in Valencia , Spain:

1. They are prudent; They rarely undertake remotely dangerous projects or do not know that they are capable of carrying out successfully.
2. Do not take unnecessary risks.
3. Do not overestimate their capabilities or possibilities.
4. They are foresighted because of the fear that the future inspires them.
5. They do not live beyond their means and are usually savers.

This type of people do not usually accept that others dismiss as pessimists, but consider themselves as "realists", able to see the bad side of things that, according to them, some refuse to see. Perhaps this is one of the characteristics for which they tend to have better health and live longer.

Video Medicine: Are Pessimistic Brains Different? (April 2024).