Stay calm and live longer

People who are physically active, calm and judicious, and who are able to manage their daily lives, liver longer than those who have a less positive attitude troubled by nervousness, anger or fear. This was concluded by researchers on behalf of a 50-year long observation of American men and women. If you strive after emotional stability and a conscientious and active lifestyle it may help lower your risk of disease, while making you more satisfied with life and - very importantly - increasing your lifespan substantially.

The study is conducted by researchers with the National Institute on Aging (a subdivision of the National Institutes of Health) in the United States who assessed personality traits in a total of 2,459 normal, healthy individuals, all of whom had enrolled in the comprehensive Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging in 1958. The data, which was collected from the participants (who at the time were between 17 and 98 years of age), provided the basis for a comparison of specific personality traits and lifespan among the 943 study participants who died during the 50-year study period. Those men and women who were above average with respect to general activity level and emotional stability typically lived 2-3 years longer than those who were below average with regard to the same parameters.