Did you know that people tend to grow happier with age, especially after they reach 80? One reason is that older adults develop the ability to ignore negative information or input, and the other is that they have learned to choose things to zero in on. In other words, with age we learn to filter out the bad stuff.
According to a University College London study published in The British Medical Journal, there is a direct link between our attitude and longevity. Of the more than 9,000 people in their 60s in the study, those who reported the most enjoyment during middle age were 24 percent less likely to die — of any cause — during the study period than those who said they did not enjoy themselves.
If you are one of those lucky people — like some of the ones who took part in the University College London study — who always manages to be optimistic and upbeat, you may be labeled a Pollyanna. The term was born back in 1913, when the first volume of the "Glad Books" series was published. In addition to the 1920 film version starring Mary Pickford and the 1960 version starring Hayley Mills, the book series has continued as recently as 1995, with "Pollyanna Plays the Game."
The title character, Pollyanna Whittier, is a young orphan who is sent to live in the fictional town of Beldingsville, Vermont, with her stern, unhappy spinster Aunt Polly, the sister of her recently deceased mother. The heroine is reluctantly taken in out of a sense of duty rather than warmth.
Pollyanna intrinsically has an optimistic and positive attitude, which she acquired from her father. He taught her to always play "the glad game," which consisted of finding something to be happy about in every situation — no matter how bleak things might appear. The game began years before when Pollyanna had hoped to receive a doll for Christmas in the missionary delivery but instead found a pair of crutches. Her father taught her to view it as a blessing rather than a disappointment. After all, wasn't she lucky that she didn't need to use crutches in order to walk around? During her time with Aunt Polly, Pollyanna positively affects all the residents of their little town by always looking for something to about which to be grateful.
A 2013 Scientific American study reported that after following thousands of people for four decades of their lives, beginning at age 16, that extraverted and emotionally stable young adults are happier when they reach retirement age than their peers who had been reticent or socially challenged as young adults.
One University of Chicago study found that most participants perceived their lives as improving with age. The rough estimate was that happiness levels increase about 5 percent with each passing decade. Study author Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist, found that even the happiness disparity between races, and between the wealthy and the poor shrinks as people get older. Additionally, Yang found that when the nation flourished economically, there was a definite uptick in happiness levels.
All of this means everyone can benefit from remembering that gratitude always makes us happier (as well as healthier) — just as Pollyanna taught us.
Marilyn Murray Willison has had a varied career as a six-time nonfiction author, columnist, motivational speaker and journalist in both the U.K. and the U.S. She is the author of The Self-Empowered Woman blog and the award-winning memoir "One Woman, Four Decades, Eight Wishes." She can be reached at www.marilynwillison.com. To find out more about Marilyn and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
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