Do you feel overwhelmed by difficult times or additional stress? Building your resilience – your ability to cope and adapt to difficult circumstances and events – can help. And a study published online on September 3, 2024 by BMJ Mental Health suggests that being resilient might even help you live longer. Researchers evaluated the responses of more than 10,000 people (average age 67) who responded to questionnaires every two years for 12 years. Participants shared information about various aspects of their lives, including health, income, family, and psychological health (including perseverance, calmness, sense of purpose, and autonomy). Based on this information, the scientists calculated a resilience score for each participant. Compared to people with the lowest resilience scores, those with the highest scores were up to 38% less likely to die over the next decade, even after scientists accounted for poor health or an unhealthy lifestyle. The study is observational and cannot prove that resilience protects people from premature death. But it won’t hurt to increase your ability to bounce back in the face of adversity. Ways to do this include meditation, support from friends, and focusing on things that are going well or things that you are grateful for.
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