The Secret to a Longer Life

Every once in a while, we come across an interview of a person who reaches 100 years of age who claims they did so by, “smoking, drinking and living a wild life.” And while we may all chuckle over this, it’s usually not a recipe for longevity.

However, findings recently released from a longevity study that spanned eight decades indicate our standard formula of “eat well, exercise, have a positive outlook, etc.” may not be the secret to a long life either. In fact, unexpected results led researchers to come to some unorthodox and astonishing conclusions:

• Worrying isn’t such a bad thing. A moderate amount of worry appears to be healthy. Especially it seems, for men. For example, the study found that men, who faced the death of a spouse, were able to channel their worry into better self-care.
• Sometimes being a sourpuss is okay. Cheerful, always optimistic kids in the study did not live longer, and in fact, may have allowed their hopefulness to get the better of them. By being overly-optimistic and believing nothing bad could ever happen to them, they may have taken more risks, e.g. not wearing a seat belt, eating unhealthy foods, etc.
• Life-long singlehood is healthiest. Contrary to popular belief, the study showed that longest lives go to those who have never been married, as opposed to those who have and whose marriages have failed and ended in divorce.
• You can’t work yourself to death. Of the 1500 study participants, those who loved what they did (and even worked into old age) thrived and experienced greater happiness and fulfillment.

So what does this all mean for you? Well, it seems that in addition to caring for your body by eating healthy and exercising, it’s important to keep the juices flowing, the electricity glowing, the single life going and the hard work growing, and then you’ll live to be 100. Or maybe it’ll just seem that long.