DAY 259 - DO YOU WANT TO LIVE A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE?

Day 259

Do you want to live a long, healthy and happy life? ? In The Longevity Project, psychology professors Howard S. Friedman and Leslie Martin tried to find out just how it could be done.  They looked for clues in data collected by psychologist Lewis Terman for a study that began in 1921 that tracked the lives of 1,500 people, from childhood to death. After eight decades of gathering information, researchers came up with some surprising conclusions.

According to the authors, contrarily to popular belief, stress-related work was not found  to necessarily be bad for the health.  If you like your job and it stimulates you, then stress can actually be beneficial.  Working hard and pursuing your goals was an important part of the life of those who lived the longest.

The researchers also found that over-optimistic people tended to take more risks and and be careless, so died younger.  Thus, contradicting the myth that optimism is key to longevity.   Worrying, to some degree, made people take care of their health and make wiser choices.

The participants who benefited from a greater longevity had strong and healthy social connections and, more importantly, were very conscientious.   They were persistent, responsible, and successful. They were dedicated to things and people beyond themselves, doing volunteer work, for instance.

There are many other elements found in the book.  For instance, the fact that resolutions are useless, since they are often broken.  What's more important is to make wise choices on a daily basis, instead of going on diets or exercise binges without really making them part of your lifestyle.

To assess your potential longevity, the authors actually made up tests.

I, personally haven't read the book yet, but it seems to me that many myths are being revisited and sometimes contradicted, which I believe makes it all the more interesting.

Finally, one of the conclusions of the authors is that health and happiness go hand in hand.  They found that happier people were healthier and that healthier people were happier.    So, I guess working on both these elements simultaneously can only help you live longer!

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