Don't Worry, Be Happy, Die Early

Prudent, persistent children ultimately live longer than their happy-go-lucky peers. Image courtesy of Meanest Indian.

Happiness is tied to good health later in life, but childhood happiness does not predict longevity—in fact it does the opposite, according to a new report.

Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin, researchers from UC Riverside, analyzed and supplemented data collected by the late Stanford University psychologist Louis Terman in a new book titled The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study.

Terman followed 1,500 children from age 10 beginning in 1921, tracking them through their lives and collecting many details and data points including work life, relationships, personality, hobbies, pets, education and professional successes.

“Probably our most amazing finding was that personality characteristics and social relations from childhood can predict one's risk of dying decades later,” Friedman said in a press release.

But the findings aren't what most people would expect. The researchers discovered that the most cheerful children ended up taking more risks with their health as they got older.

“We found that as a general life orientation, too much of a sense that 'everything will be just fine' can be dangerous because it can lead one to be careless about things that are important to health and long life,” said Friedman. “Prudence and persistence, however, led to a lot of important benefits for many years.”

Other of Friedman's findings are counter to conventional wisdom as well, like the idea that less work and stress contributes to a longer life. Those who were the most productive and committed to their jobs lived significantly longer than those who took it easy.

“It turns out happiness is not a root cause of good health. Instead happiness and health go together because they have common roots,” according to Friedman.

Friedman's work implies that good decisions are more important than disposition for health and longevity, meaning that any one can learn to make better choices and take steps to lengthen their life.

Workaholics rejoice!

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