Daily Jots

“It used to be said that good people were short-lived — a belief honed in earlier times when infants and children frequently did not live to grow up, and anybody (good-natured or not) could suddenly be felled by infectious disease. Is there a link between personality and health? In scientific studies, it’s not easy to prove that positive or negative attitudes affect health. Still, it stands to reason that optimism and a sunny disposition could contribute to long life.

And indeed there is a body of evidence that well-adjusted, socially stable, well-integrated people have a lower risk of disease and premature death than loners and the chronically discontented and pessimistic. Most research finds that optimism is associated with longer life, though it certainly does not guarantee it. In a 23-year study done in a small town in Ohio by researchers from Yale and Miami Universities, people over 50 who viewed aging as a positive experience lived an average of 7.5 years longer than those who did not — a big gap. (The researchers controlled for such possible confounding factors as race, gender, state of health, morale, and loneliness.) People got more mileage out of optimism, in fact, than from lowering blood cholesterol levels. And other things being equal, they got more mileage out of their will to live than other psychological factors.”

If that isn’t a good reason to get out there and play today, I don’t know what is! For me, that means going on a hike today with Britt! At the moment I’m not so sure that equals “play” ;)

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