Happiness extends your longevity.
noirlily / Pixabay – Happiness extends your longevity.

Happiness extends our longevity. What can we do to improve our happiness? A few examples are:

● Don’t let others control your emotions
● Be grateful for what we have
● Maintain balance in life
● Have a positive attitude
● Think positively
● Stop watching stressful programs
● Stop reading stressful articles
● Learn to breathe
● Exercise
● Plan to achieve realistic goals
● Eat nutritionally balanced meals daily
● Yoga
● Stretching
● Meditation
● Muscle relaxation
● Reframe situations
● Smile
● Improve your self-esteem
● Learn more
● Help others
● Have healthy relationships
● Massage

The journal, Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, reported a very comprehensive study (over 160 different studies) on happiness and aging. All else being equal, happy people tend to live longer and have better health than their peers. It makes a lot of sense when we compare the topic of happiness and stress. Stress causes health problems and shortens our lifespan. Happiness is living with little to no stress.

Our subjective well-being is critical when it comes to our health. If we feel positive about our lives, we generally live longer and healthier lives. One particular study followed almost 5,000 college students for more than 40 years of their lives. The pessimistic students died sooner than their peers. Another study followed 180 Catholic nuns from their early lives through old age. Those who wrote positively in their autobiographies tended to outlive those who recorded negative accounts about their lives.

 

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