That’s what British researchers found when they asked nearly 4,000 people, aged 52 to 79, to spend a typical weekday recording their emotions and then checked back an average of five years later to find how many study participants were still alive. Those who had scored the highest “positive attitude” (PA) had a substantially longer survival rate.
Findings included:
*The “happiest” people were slightly younger and more likely to be male and married.
*Positive emotions overall were lowest at 7 a.m. and highest at 7 p.m.
*Ethnicity, paid employment, education and presence of serious disease made no significant difference in PA.
*Smoking was less common and physical activity higher among those with higher PAs.
*Happier people had higher opinions of their own health.
All signs point to cultivating an upbeat outlook if you want to add more birthdays to your life – and enjoy them