单选题
Here"s truth to the saying that you"re only as old as you feel. "Physical well-being and subjective well-being are two sides of the same coin," says Howard Friedman, author of
The Longevity Project
, a research-based look at who lives the longest and why. "Mental health affects physical health, and physical health affects mental health."
Research shows a compelling argument. Adults with serious mental illness like schizophrenia (精神分裂) die about 25 years earlier than the general population, according to a 2007 report from the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors.
Why? They often get little exercise, leading to obesity and hiking the odds of heart disease. They"re also more likely than others to smoke and have alcohol and drug-abuse problems.
But evidence of the mind-body connection transcends serious mental illness and the unhealthy habits that often go along with it. Take negative emotions for example. While they may not
cause
a disease, they appear to accelerate its progression, says Laura Carstensen, a professor of psychology at Stanford University. "We"re only beginning to understand the potential mechanisms that could be involved," she says. "But it"s clear that people who are more positive are more likely to survive, and to survive longer."
In one study, older people were up to 35 percent less likely to die during a five-year period if they reported feeling happy, excited, and content on a typical day. That was true regardless of factors like chronic (慢性的) health problems, depression, and financial security, according to findings published in 2011 in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
. And earlier this month, Harvard researchers reported that optimism, hope, life satisfaction, and happiness are associated with lowered likelihood of heart disease and stroke.
Social psychologists report similar results, including hints that attitudes about aging count, too. A research team at Yale University and the National Institute on Aging looked at surveys taken by 386 men and women under age 50, and then studied their health records four decades later. Those with the worst outlook on aging, who described older people as "feeble, helpless, and absent-minded," were significantly more likely to have had a heart attack or stroke than those with more positive views on growing old. Likewise, research suggests that people who perceive themselves as being in poor health—even if they aren"t—may die sooner than those who consider themselves healthy.
Perhaps it"s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you view older people as active, healthy members of society, there"s a good chance you"ll take care of yourself as you age, continuing to eat well and exercise. But if you feel doomed to a weak existence, you might be more inclined to let yourself go. Longevity scientists have found that people who perceive aging as a positive experience are more likely to visit the doctor regularly, eat a balanced diet, maintain an appropriate weight, and avoid tobacco.
Since there"s no question that mental health affects longevity, focus on how to preserve yours—and how to cope with trouble when it arrives.