When we talk about men’s longevity, the advice usually stays the same: hit the gym, watch your prostate health, eat more protein, and get your heart checked. But according to a major study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), we might be leaving the most powerful tool in the shed: our mindset.

Researchers tracking thousands of individuals for decades discovered that optimism isn’t just a feel-good personality trait. For men, looking on the bright side is a massive driver of “exceptional longevity”—defined by scientists as living to age 85 or older.

Here is what a 30-year study on men revealed about the staggering power of a positive outlook.

The Study: 30 Years of Tracking Men

To understand how mindset alters lifespan, researchers leaned heavily on data from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study. They followed 1,429 men over a massive 30-year period (from 1986 to 2016).

At the start, the men (who averaged about 62 years old) took rigorous psychological assessments to measure their levels of optimism versus pessimism. Over the next three decades, researchers tracked their health habits, medical diagnoses, and mortality.

The Findings: A 70% Higher Chance of Hitting 85

The data revealed a clear “dose-dependent” trend: the higher a man’s optimism level, the longer he lived.

When comparing the most optimistic men to the least optimistic men, the results were hard to ignore:

• The most optimistic men had up to a 15% longer lifespan on average.
• They had a staggering 70% greater odds of surviving to age 85.

What makes these numbers truly impressive is that they held up even after researchers adjusted for background factors. It didn’t matter what their income was, whether they had a history of depression, or what their baseline health looked like—optimism independently predicted a longer life. In fact, the survival advantage of being an optimist was statistically comparable to the advantage of never being diagnosed with a major chronic disease like type 2 diabetes.

The Blueprint: How Optimism Protects Men

Why does a positive outlook keep men on the right side of the grass for longer? The study points to two major reasons:

1. It Drives Better Health Behaviors

Optimistic men are simply more likely to take care of business. Because they believe their actions will lead to a better future, they invest in that future. The study noted that the most optimistic men engaged in significantly more physical activity, maintained a healthier Body Mass Index (BMI), and reported lower alcohol use. They don’t just passively hope for a long life—their mindset drives the daily discipline required to build one.

2. It Acts as a Buffer Against Stress

Life throws a lot at men—career pressure, financial strain, aging, and injury. Pessimistic men tend to view setbacks as permanent failures, driving up chronic stress, blood pressure, and inflammation. Optimistic men, however, tend to reframe challenges as temporary and manageable. This psychological resilience keeps their cardiovascular systems out of a constant “fight or flight” state, preventing the long-term wear-and-tear that leads to premature heart attacks and strokes.

The Takeaway: You Can Train Your Brain

If you’re a natural cynic who assumes the worst-case scenario is always right around the corner, don’t write yourself off just yet. The researchers emphasized that while optimism is roughly 25% genetic, the rest is entirely modifiable. Optimism is a skill you can build.

Just like hitting the gym builds muscle, targeted mental habits can rewiring your brain. Simple habits—like actively reframing a daily frustration into a problem to be solved, or practicing a “best possible self” visualization exercise—can shift your baseline outlook over time.

Broaching the topic of longevity requires more than just scheduling your next physical. If you want to maximize your years and make sure you’re around to enjoy old age, it’s time to start training your mind to look on the bright side.