Could the secret to longevity be in your personality?

The road to 100 might seem long and arduous, but there are a few individuals on this planet who have successfully clocked a century, and are still going strong! The question is; how do they pull it off? Do they religiously stick to a healthy diet? Do they shun some of the tempting vices of our youth such as binge drinking and chain-smoking? Well, it’s more than that. Turns out that their belief system actually plays a vital role in helping them live wise and healthy lives. A study carried out by a team led by Dr. Dilip Jeste—a geriatric psychiatrist and director of the Center on Healthy Aging at the University of California, San Diego—analyzed individuals between the ages of 21 to 99 and more. While most studies on longevity and aging usually focus on the foods that people consume, or the kind of genetics they possess, this joint team of researchers from the University of California San Diego—and the University of Rome La Sapienza—decided to take a rather unorthodox route. They narrowed their study to a number of villages in Italy’s mountainous region of Cilento, off the coast of the Tyrrhenian sea. Participants of the study were persons who had lived a long and healthy existence; primarily 29 nonagenarians (people between the ages of 90 to 99 years) and centenarians (people over the age of 100), as well as 51 family members between the ages of  51 to 75. The researchers analyzed the participants’ character traits. Once the study was completed, the group became part of a larger study known as the Cilento Initiative on Aging Outcomes, or CIAO, which aimed at focusing on positive psychological traits that promoted longevity. Published in the Cambridge University Press in 2017 with the title, “Mixed-Methods quantitative-qualitative study of 29 nonagenarians and centenarians in rural Southern Italy: focus on positive psychological traits” the study released some particularly interesting findings. For example, participants who were aged 90 years and below had poorer physical health than their younger family members, there was no question about that. But interestingly, they exhibited greater mental well-being. The study also observed that mental well-being correlated negatively with higher levels of anxiety and depression in both groups. Overall, the elderly persons were graded according to their levels of perceived stress, depression, anxiety, optimism, resilience, and physical and mental well-being. Of note was that several of these elderly participants had experienced traumatic events, wars, migrations, and different kinds of upheavals. However, they exhibited a strong sense of optimism, hard work, religion, and family bonding. In an interview with TIME, Dr. Jeste noted: “Older people are much better able to brush off life’s small stressors and accumulate a valuable thing called wisdom: being emotionally stable and compassionate, knowing yourself and being able to make smart social decisions.” The study also observed that despite their worsened physical health, the elderly were more self-confident. They were also firmer in their decision-making process, making them less anxious and depressed. They also exhibited a strong sense of love for their land, their family, their region, and their people. According to Anna Scelzo of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Chiavarese, Italy, she says: “The group’s love of their land is a common theme and gives them a purpose in life. Most of them are still working in their homes and on the land. They think, ‘This is my life and I’m not going to give it up,’” In conclusion, Dr. Jeste’s study observed that exceptional longevity was characterized by a sense of balance between acceptance of life, and a positive attitude towards aspects of land, family, and religion among the elderly.