Study: Cheery, Optimists Die Younger

[Hissyspit]

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/03/12/Study-Cheery-optimists-die-younger/UPI-40311299973911/

Study: Cheery, optimists die younger
Published: March. 12, 2011 at 6:51 PM

RIVERSIDE, Calif., March 12 (UPI) -- Personality can affect longevity -- those with the most optimism and cheerfulness die younger than their less positive counterparts, U.S. researchers found.

Study leader Howard S. Friedman, distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside; Leslie R. Martin, a psychology professor at La Sierra University in Riverside; and staff researchers -- over a 20-year period -- analyzed data from a study of 1,500 bright children who were about 10 years old when the study began in 1921.

"Longevity Project participants who were the most cheerful and had the best sense of humor as kids lived shorter lives, on average, than those who were less cheerful and joking," Martin said in a statement. "It was the most prudent and persistent individuals who stayed healthiest and lived the longest."

Part of the explanation lies in studying the health behaviors of the study subject -- the cheerful, happy-go-lucky kids tended to take more risks with their health across the years, Friedman explained.

MORE

[provis99]

1. I am confirmed in my bitterness and cynicism!

It's good for my longevity! Well, I read that Malthus lived to a ripe old age, too.

[Uben]

2. That explains Dick Cheney.....

When you're an evil, beligerent bastard, you live forever.

[lunatica]

13. Heartless bastard

LOL! He really doesn't have a heart! At least not one that works.

[aquart]

3. HAH! The power of negative thinking!

[glowing]

4. There is that saying: "Only the Good die young"

[Edweird]

27. If that's true I'm pretty much gonna live forever.

[Selatius]

5. That's simple. People who are unsatisfied are more likely to take corrective action.

People who are happy or satisfied are less likely to change something because it doesn't bother them. On the other hand, people who are unsatisfied or bothered are more likely to take action to change something until they are satisfied, and if it takes a long time to correct a problem, of course they're going to be unhappy for a long time.

[Jamastiene]

6. See that, "morning people?"

I will outlive you happy, perky little shits. So, remember that next time I have not been awake long and you decide to be all cheerful at me. I will outlive you, but not before I bite you for daring to talk to me when I first wake up. Muahahahaha. :evilgrin:

[CTyankee]

18. I am a morning person and I have my fair share of feeling unhappy.

I think it is just your physical make up not anything to do with your general outlook of optimism/pessimism. I've known optimists who aren't morning people...and I like them, too!

[Aerows]

35. Yes, but as an optimist...

...I'll love you anyway, and you will *miss* me when I'm gone :).

I'll have enjoyed my years way more, too!

[Buns_of_Fire]

41. Take VitaMeataVegamin and be one of the HappyPeppyPeople!

(It's so tasty, too!)

[liberal N proud]

7. Hmm,, Die young and happy or old and grumpy?

:shrug:

[Xipe Totec]

8. So the choices are short and sweet, or long and bitter. Humm.. nt

[rfranklin]

9. STUDY: Optimists live longer and healthier lives...

I'm so confused...

Optimists live longer and healthier lives: study
Thu, Mar 5 2009
By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Optimists live longer, healthier lives than pessimists, U.S. researchers said on Thursday in a study that may give pessimists one more reason to grumble.

Researchers at University of Pittsburgh looked at rates of death and chronic health conditions among participants of the Women's Health Initiative study, which has followed more than 100,000 women ages 50 and over since 1994.

Women who were optimistic -- those who expect good rather than bad things to happen -- were 14 percent less likely to die from any cause than pessimists and 30 percent less likely to die from heart disease after eight years of follow up in the study.

Optimists also were also less likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes or smoke cigarettes.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/03/05/us-optimist-health-idUSTRE5247NO20090305

[PassingFair]

12. I've never met a happy optimist.

They're constantly fooling themselves and
getting disappointed.

I think the happiest people are cautiously optimistic,
at best.

[seabeyond]

19. i was thinking the same thing. this was on du like a mere month ago. i am gonna optimistically

believe this study, over the other one, lol

[renate]

30. happiness has a greater impact on health than smoking

If you're a nun, anyway:

"After joining the order their lives were almost exactly the same - same food, same work, same routine. But not the same life expectancy.

Among the less positive nuns, two thirds died before their 85th birthday. Among the happy nuns, 90% were still alive.

On average the happiest nuns lived about nine years longer than the least happy nuns.

It is a huge effect when you think that on average smoking one packet of cigarettes a day takes three years off your life."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4924180.stm

[mmonk]

10. I should live a long time.

[Rhiannon12866]

11. Guess I'm safe then, too...

:(

[ehrnst]

14. Life's a bitch, and then you live for a long time. (nt)

[Maraya1969]

15. Since I'm bipoler I'll probably have a near death experience before I die of old age

[RainDog]

32. LOL

:hug:

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Unfortunately, I've just seen that very thing happen.

But it's not just because they're risk takers. A friend that just seemed invincible to me, always laughing through some incredibly adverse situations died at the age of 56. It was one year after the death of her daughter. The one thing that brought joy to her life. She just wasted away and her heart just couldn't take the loss.

[slampoet]

17. But once you eliminate the ones I've strangled it comes out about even.......

[Javaman]

20. "Oh Honey, the bear won't hurt me, he just wants to smell my hand..." nt

[seabeyond]

21. all i have to do is run faster than "honey". see, optimism works. nt

[Javaman]

22. Optimist survivor: "You see, my running every day saved me". LOL nt

Subtext: my lazy wife covered in fluff n' nutter saved me.

:rofl:

[WatsonT]

23. So grumpiness and pessimism are survival traits?

not surprising.

I guess I'm set.

Does sarcasm help at all?

[Jamastiene]

31. Lol, I should survive a long time if that counts too.

:evilgrin:

[Ikonoklast]

24. I Am Therefore Immortal.

I knew that cynicism, skepticism, general grumpiness, and plain old being a crabby bastard would pay off one day.



WINNING!

[TalkingDog]

25. I am..... IMMORTAL!

n/t

[blondeatlast]

26. But they enjoy life more. I'll take shorter and happier, thanks! nt

[slackmaster]

28. That's depressing. Many of us are doomed.

:spew:

[CakeGrrl]

36. It's not that "happy" people die sooner - it's the cockeyed optimists who

may be oblivious to or in denial about the practical aspects of taking care of themselves.

Taken to another level, it might manifest in "I don't want to hear any bad news", or "If I ignore it, it will go away." I've known of people who didn't want to know a medical diagnosis because it might be bad news. Rather than confront it and deal with it, they didn't want to know that anything bad could be possible. That's a very strange perspective to a pragmatist.

[Edweird]

29. I wouldn't call myself 'cheery' or an 'optimist', but I'm definitely a maniac.

On one hand "only the good die young" = I'm gonna live a long long life.
On the other hand I do things for a living and for fun that freak sane people out. I have a large assortment of scars and formerly broken bones. I wouldn't have it any other way. I CAN'T have it any other way - I'll spontaneously combust. Besides, YouTube wouldn't be any good without people like me....

[RainDog]

33. immortality sucks

:smoke:

[Aerows]

34. Okay

I'll still have lived a more rewarding and fun-filled life than those who hang around forever :D

[themadstork]

37. As a lifelong clinical depressive

looks like I'll be bumming out for quite the long ime.

[Buns_of_Fire]

38. But if a pessimist doesn't WANT to live longer, then they'll get depressed even MORE.

Which will give them a more pessimistic outlook, which will make them live even LONGER.

Until finally, one fine day, they look around at the trees, the flowers, the children playing, the beautiful blue sky, and think to themselves, "You know, I've decided that I'm happy I lived this long."

Whereupon they immediately get run over by a bus.

The End.

[KamaAina]

39. Just call me Methuselah.

:evilgrin:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

40. Well, now I know why I've safely reached curmudgeon age.

[RedCloud]

42. Nonsense! The wealthy laugh all the way to the bank.