Study Finds That Happy People Live Longer

I ran into this news article which is really interesting. A study found that happy people live longer. From the USA Today article:

The study, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that those who reported feeling happiest had a 35% reduced risk of dying compared with those who reported feeling least happy.

This briefly describes the methods used to obtain the results:

Rather than rely on recollections about their feelings of happiness as in earlier studies, this British study of 3,853 participants ages 52-79 rated their feelings at different times on one particular day. Five years later, researchers recorded the number who died and controlled for a variety of factors, including age, gender, health, wealth, education and marital status.

So I guess if you want to live longer, don't be pissed off or sad all of the time, find things to be happy about.

Want to hear my study? People who's diet consists mainly of fish live longer. Lol. anyways, good thread Op.

Ironic because people who are at peace die easier

reply to post by mr10k


I do eat quite a bit of fish, so that's good news. Hopefully they'll figure out how to prevent people from dying in my lifetime, so I won't have to deal with that

reply to post by TupacShakur


when much younger, i didn't understand how anyone could go to York beach in Maine or Mt Snow in Vermont and not be happy.

then i realized that having a nice day was a social skill many people didn't have.

when teaching children sports, while profesional about teaching the basics, i always considered the students learning to have a nice day, the most important.

whether one, three , or five kids, if at the end of the day, they all had a smile from ear to ear, i knew i had done my job well.

too many people don't know how to have a nice day, it's an important social skill.

Originally posted by TupacShakur
So I guess if you want to live longer, don't be pissed off or sad all of the time, find things to be happy about.

Interesting to say the least. I wonder though, why are old people all so grumpy then?

I can only remember ever encountering a few who didn't have anything to complain or be upset about.

Never ask an old person how they are doing, unless you can spend some serious time listening to complaints about everything from arthritis, to the weather!

Perhaps the people who get old being happy have earned the right to be complainers once they reach their golden years!

I read something like this awhile back, I think it makes a lot of sense. I never learned how to "have a nice day" as a child. I am now just learning to do so with regularity. It's difficult sometimes. But, yeah, I don't plan on dying EVER. So, I'd better make sure I'm happy or at least content for the next few millenia.

Originally posted by citizen6511
reply to post by TupacShakur

 

when much younger, i didn't understand how anyone could go to York beach in Maine or Mt Snow in Vermont and not be happy.

then i realized that having a nice day was a social skill many people didn't have.

when teaching children sports, while profesional about teaching the basics, i always considered the students learning to have a nice day, the most important.

whether one, three , or five kids, if at the end of the day, they all had a smile from ear to ear, i knew i had done my job well.

too many people don't know how to have a nice day, it's an important social skill.

much truth there, not sure why it irritates me so

Yeah and money cant buy you happiness.

Strangley the max age of the rich is always higher than the max age of the poor in every study.I wonder why.

It makes sense. Stress has been linked to numerous serious ailments. On top of that a positive mood has been linked to expediting the healing process. I do however like this line.

a 35% reduced risk of dying

It makes it sound like if you're happy then the risk of you ever dying is 35% lower.

reply to post by colin42


Rich people live longer because they think they are better people. Not because they are happier. Its like a social placebo affect...

I'm pretty sure I can design a study that, if interpreted like the media did in the study above, would produce the following headline:

Study Finds Skid-Marks Cause Car Wrecks

Obviously, this isn't the case. We know that car accidents often produce skid-marks. What the hypothetical study would find is a correlation between Skid-Marks and car wrecks.

Now, the study in the OP says "Happy people live longer." All that tells you is that, according to observations, being happy is associated with living longer. What that doesn't tell you is whether being happy is causing long life or if living longer is causing happiness...or if both are the result of another cause.

For instance, based on the observations, I could just as easily say this: People who don't live as long are probably suffering from chronic diseases that affect their health and well-being, thereby decreasing their happiness. So, the disease is causing them to both die younger AND be unhappy.

These are the types of studies that the media love...it's the perfect way to sensationalize something while the common person couldn't pick out the spin.

Who would a thunk it? Happy people live longer? No effin way...

Another news, depressed people are more likely to kill themselves than happy people.