Study find people with low expectations live healthier lifestyles Being a pessimists may be good for your health as it mean you 'live more carefully', according to a new study from University of Erlang-Nuremberg in Germany. Those who have a “darker outlook” about the future are said to live longer, the study found.
Older people who are blighted by negative thoughts and fear for the future are more likely to live longer, a study has revealed.
Scientists found those with low expectations for a “satisfying future” actually led healthier lives.
The study questioned 40,000 people and found that being “overly optimistic” in predicting a better future was associated with a greater risk of disability and death.
 “Our findings revealed that being overly optimistic in predicting a better future was associated with a greater risk of disability and death within the following decade. Pessimism about the future may encourage people to live more carefully, taking health and safety precautions,” said Lead author Frieder R.Lang.
The study found people with low expectations about the future tend to lead healthier lifestyles and therefore live longer. While 25 percent had predicted their future happiness accurately, 32 percent had overestimated it.
Those in the oldest group who overestimated how happy they would be were found to have a 9.5 percent increase in reporting disabilities.
Astonishingly, the research, published by the American Psychological Association, also found that those with higher income were more likely to be at greater risk of disability.
“Unexpectedly, we also found that stable and good health and income were associated with expecting a greater decline compared with those in poor health or with low incomes. Moreover, we found that higher income was related to a greater risk of disability,” said Dr Lang.