Happiness.Everything that makes us happy also makes us older. One of the first to prove it was Ruut Veenhoven, from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, who suggests defining happiness as the “subjective enjoyment of life when globally evaluated”. As he concluded in an article published inJournal of Hapiness Studie, after analyzing 30 scientific studies on the subject, this state not only prolongs people’s lives but alsoprevents them from contracting diseases. Veenhoven attributes this to chronic unhappiness causing stress, which in turn reduces the immune system’s responsiveness when something attacks us. Without forgetting that unhappy people are less likely to adopt ahealthy life style.
Success.Success can also prolong life. Using data from more than 15,000 athletes, a study published inBritish Medical Journalconcluded thatOlympic medal winners live on average 2.8 years longer than their peersregardless of whether the metal that hangs around their necks is gold, silver or bronze.
Optimism and boldness.A study published in May 2012 in the journalAgingrevealed that we are more likely to blow 100 candles if we areoptimistic, carefree, laughing and outgoing. Other work released on The Journal of Neuroscience indicated that individualsmore active and daring, who are motivated to participate in all kinds of physical and social activities, including extreme sports, have a variant of the gene for the receptor for dopamine – the pleasure hormone – that usually makes them reach nonagenarians.
