I never really was able to work up a feeling of hate'

As the actor Dick Van Dyke gears up to celebrate his centennial birthday this month, Ellie Muir explores how the ‘Mary Poppins’ star’s life as an optimist has kept him going

- Ellie Muir

Dick Van Dyke may be approaching his 100th birthday, but he's feeling 13. The 99-year-old Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star said so himself in a recent interview, crediting his long lifespan to his positive outlook - more specifically, the fact that he never gets angry.

“I’ve always thought that anger and hate is one thing that eats up a person’s insides,” the Bye Bye Birdie actor told People magazine in a recent interview. “And I never really was able to work up a feeling of hate. There were things I didn’t like, people I don’t like and disapprove of. But I never really was able to do a white heat kind of hate.” He added that his father, Loren Van Dyke, was “constantly upset by the state of things in his life and it did take him at 73 years old”.

According to a number of studies, the nonagenarian might be on to something. Researchers have found that optimists enjoy higher levels of wellbeing, better sleep, lower stress, and even better cardiovascular health and immune function - contributing to a longer life. A study conducted by Durham University in the UK concluded this in 2022, with researchers tracking the lifespan of nearly 160,000 women aged between 50 and 79 across 26 years, finding that the optimists had lived longer and happier lives. A 2016 study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology similarly found that optimism was broadly and robustly associated with a lower risk of mortality: it found that individuals with greater optimism are more likely to achieve exceptional longevity, living beyond 85 or older.