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Blog, Health disparities

Feeling in control? It could add years to your life.

by Suzanne Bohan
February 17, 2014
Margie Lachman, a professor of psychology at Brandeis University, led a recent study on one's sense of control and life expectancy.

Margie Lachman, a professor of psychology at Brandeis University, led a recent study on one’s sense of control and life expectancy.

I’ve long wondered if outlook could change one’s life expectancy odds, since part of what accounts for discrepancies in life spans relates to a sense of control. That’s why those higher on the social ladder live longer, even if those just below them on the rung have safe homes, good food, medical care, etc. More control means less stress, better health.

So a new study caught my eye. It reported that for a certain population (those with less than a college degree), a sense of control did indeed influence life spans.

“Health and longevity are not just due to health care access,” said Margie Lachman, a professor of psychology and director of the Lifespan Initiative on Healthy Aging at Brandeis University, who led the study. “Attitudes make a difference. How you construe your circumstances and challenges determine whether you take action or give up, or feel stressed or motivated.” Her comments appeared in a Health Day article, published by the National Institutes of Health.

Lachman and her colleagues looked at data from more than 6,100 U.S. residents who turned in health surveys from 1994 to 1996. They then looked at what happened to them by 2009, and found nearly 600 had died.

As other research has shown, the odds of dying was higher among those who had lower levels of education. But the researchers found that feeling a sense of control counteracted the increased risk.

The study, which was funded by the NIH, appeared online Feb. 3 in the journal Health Psychology.

So what accounts for the difference? “People with a high and low sense of control will see the same situation differently, perhaps as a challenge versus a threat,” Lachman said.

Shevaun Neupert, an associate professor of psychology at North Carolina State University, lauded the study for showing that being poor or uneducated doesn’t need to translate into feeling helpless.

“The idea that someone with low education can have high levels of perceived control and outlive their peers with the same education is a powerful finding,” she stated in the Health Day article.

Blog, Health disparities, Health equity

Deadly Discrimination

by Suzanne Bohan
February 9, 2014
David Williams, a Harvard University professor with an expertise on the health effects of racism.

David Williams, a Harvard University professor with an expertise on the health effects of racism.

Beware of the small slights in life. Over a lifetime they add up to major loss of health, physical and mental, warns David R. Williams, a professor of public health, sociology and African and African-American studies at Harvard University.

For decades Williams has studied the connection between racism and diminished health. Recently his work percolated up in the news as he’s giving a few talks this week, at the invitation of Canadian health experts eager to close the gap between black and white populations there.

Worldwide, life expectancies are all strongly linked to socioeconomic status – job rank, income and education level. Minority populations typically end up on the lower end of the spectrum, and many nations are working to reduce those life span differences, which reach up to 20 years.

Between 1990 and 2008, the United States began making headway in its quest end the difference, with the most educated blacks gaining 6.7 years in life expectancy. But they still lag in lifespan behind their white counterparts, and Williams points to racism, or what he calls “microaggressions,” as the key hidden factor.

To quantify the effects of racism, Williams developed three statistical tools: The Major Experiences of Discrimination, Everyday Discrimination, and Heightened Vigilance scales.

Everyday discrimination, Williams found, extracts the greatest toll. Black Americans often report poor service in retail outlets or being followed as though they’ll shoplift, being passed over for important positions or promotions, and less attentive treatment from health care professionals, among countless slights. (The Tumblr site, http://microaggressions.tumblr.com, has numerous first-hand examples.)

Among the health ramifications: Greater risk of developing heart disease, depression, and premature delivery, as well as the buildup of abdominal fat, itself linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, and stroke.

Awareness starts the cure, Williams asserts. In a recent article in the (Halifax) Chronicle Herald, he advised pausing before subconsciously categorizing somebody based on the most common traits used to discriminate — race, gender and age. Instead, he suggested making a conscious effort to focus on the person as a unique individual.

1)   Harvard prof coming to HRM for talks on racism’s effect on health; The Chronicle Herald, Clare Mellor, staff reporter. February 7, 2014.

Suzanne Bohan

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Health, Health disparities

Oscar winners may gain years in life, along with prized gold statuette

by Suzanne Bohan
February 23, 2013
Katharine Hepburn's four Best Actress Academy Awards (Morning Glory, 1933; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1967; The Lion in Winter, 1968; On Golden Pond, 1981) on permanent display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Katharine Hepburn’s four Best Actress Academy Awards (Morning Glory, 1933; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1967; The Lion in Winter, 1968; On Golden Pond, 1981) on permanent display at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Academy Award winners this Sunday may not realize it, but they have another reason to

clutch their newly-won Oscars so tightly: That 13-inch gold statuette can actually add years to their lives.

Movie stars who have won an Oscar live on average four years longer than stars nominated but not selected. Katharine Hepburn won a record four Oscars and lived to age 96. Anthony Quinn, the winner of two Academy Awards, won two and lived to 86. But Richard Burton, who was nominated seven times but never won, died at 58.

That research came from the University of Toronto, and the scientists behind it had wondered if the award’s boost to status and self-esteem were enough to increase lifespan. So they compared the length of life for those who won Best Actor or Best Actress awards with those who were nominated for the prize but didn’t win.

The answer was a decided yes, with a four-year life increase in longevity for those winning the prize over those nominated.1

That’s a stunning advantage, wrote Sir Michael Marmot in his book, The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity. It’s equivalent to wiping out the mortality rates from heart disease. Marmot was knighted in 2000 by the Queen Elizabeth for his pioneering work studying the differences in health along the socioeconomic ladder.

“Winning an Oscar is like reducing your chance of dying from a heart attack from about average to zero,” wrote Marmot. “Not bad.”

That’s not the only study connecting social status and self esteem to longevity. Nobel Prize-winning scientists lived an average of two years longer than scientists nominated but who didn’t win.2  Another famous study found that among British white-collar workers, executives and managers enjoyed a longer life span than those in mid-level management, while blue-collar workers had the shortest lives.3

It’s long been accepted that low socioeconomic status predisposes people to health problems and shortened life spans, but it was usually attributed to limited access to health care along with poor lifestyles and diets. But the recent crop of studies show something else is at work, since movie stars, distinguished scientists and white collar workers have similar access to medical care and certainly have incomes sufficient to ensure adequate diets.

And there’s a lesson for everyone.

Donald Redelmeier, MD, one of the scientists conducting the study, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, says the results suggest that the enhanced self-esteem gained by winning a prestigious award exerts a powerful effect in improving health, even in those who already had many advantages in life.

“Once you’ve got a major accomplishment that nobody can take away from you, that gives you a sense of self-esteem and makes you much more resilient to all of the other stressors in life,” he said in a radio interview.4

That, in turn, could lower levels of stress hormones linked to cardiovascular disease and other health problems, as well as improved immune system function. Oscar winners, he wrote in the study, are also more likely to “preserve their image by continually avoiding disgraceful behaviors and maintaining exemplary conduct.” Low self esteem, in contrast, leads to depression, which weakens motivation to maintain good behaviors.

Obviously, few people will ever win an Oscar, but bioethicist Arthur Caplan, PhD, in an email exchange I had with him a few years ago, said that the Oscar study “does at least suggest that money isn’t everything in life. Achievement and social recognition count too.”

Achieving distinction – such as earning salesperson of the year award, winning an athletic event or an important recognition for your community work – can instill a sense of lasting accomplishment and boost to self-esteem. Achievement also promotes positive thinking, another attribute strongly linked to lowered stress and the practice of protective health behaviors.

To help others, you can also use your knowledge of self-esteem’s link to health to boost other peoples’ well being as well. As Caplan said, “Parents, teachers, politicians, and the media who have the power to honor and acknowledge worth might keep this in mind.”

TAKEAWAY: While a good diet and an active lifestyle are critical underpinnings of a healthy life, social factors such as status and recognition also play an important role.

—

1. Redelmeier, DA, Singh, SM. 2001. Survival in Academy Award-winning actors and actresses. Annals of Internal Medicine 15; 134 (10):955-962.

2. University of Warwick (2007, January 18). Oswald A. and Rablen, M. “Mortality and Immortality.”

3. Marmot, MG, Smith GD, Stansfeld, S, et al. 1991.Health inequalities among British civil servants: the Whitehall II study. Lancet 337(8754):1387-93.

4. Redelmeier, DA. Interview on CBS Radio One by Mary Lou Finlay, May 14, 2001.

 

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