Optimists may have longer lives

The Facts:
* 7,000 American students completed a questionnaire about their personality when they started University in the 1960s.
* The number of deaths that occurred was studied for the next 40 years.
* Optimistic people were generally found to live longer than pessimistic people.

Shaun’s comment: I’m optimistic about the results of this study! We know that the mind has a huge effect on our health, even though the mechanisms are not well understood and this is further confirmed by this study. A similar study a few years ago tried to determine whether optimistic people were more successful because they were more optimistic or whether they were optimistic because they were successful; the researchers found that their personality was likely to be the cause of their success and not vice versa.

Study reference:
http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/Abstract.asp?AID=4223