Beyond exercise, diet, and even good genes, the strongest predictor of whether a senior will fully recover from a major health crisis isn’t physical at all—it’s emotional. A new study tracking thousands of older adults for three years found that psychological and emotional wellness trumped nearly every other factor in determining who would bounce back from conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and debilitating injuries.
“Participants who had psychological and emotional wellness at [the start of the study] were nearly five times more likely to achieve optimal well-being by the study’s conclusion compared to those who lacked this wellness at the start,” senior study author Esme Fuller-Thomson, a professor of social work, medicine and nursing at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, told The Epoch Times.
