The secret to a long life

Don't worry, be happy ain't it. Neither is the proper proportion of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in your diet.

Leslie R. Martin, a psychology professor at La Sierra University in Riverside, who participated in a 20-year study, says:

"One of the findings that really astounds people, including us, is that the Longevity Project participants who were the most cheerful and had the best sense of humor as kids lived shorter lives, on average, than those who were less cheerful and joking. It was the most prudent and persistent individuals who stayed healthiest and lived the longest."

Part of the explanation lies in health behaviors – the cheerful, happy-go-lucky kids tended to take more risks with their health across the years, said Howard S. Friedman, distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California - Riverside, who led the study.

While an optimistic approach can be helpful in a crisis, "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. Prudence and persistence, however, led to a lot of important benefits for many years. It turns out that happiness is not a root cause of good health. Instead, happiness and health go together because they have common roots."

"Some of the minutiae of what people think will help us lead long, healthy lives, such as worrying about the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in the foods we eat, actually are red herrings, distracting us from the major pathways," Friedman said. "When we recognize the long-term healthy and unhealthy patterns in ourselves, we can begin to maximize the healthy patterns."

"Thinking of making changes as taking 'steps' is a great strategy," Martin says. "You can't change major things about yourself overnight. But making small changes, and repeating those steps, can eventually create that path to longer life." 

The first step, Friedman and Martin say, is to throw away the lists and stop worrying about worrying.

I'm going to put that on my to-do list, right after eating more cabbage.