Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Want to live long? Laugh less, not more

Graphics | File Research shows that happy-go-lucky pupils who join school before the age of six years tend to have a shorter lifespan.
Graphics | File Research shows that happy-go-lucky pupils who join school before the age of six years tend to have a shorter lifespan. 
By GATONYE GATHURA gathura@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, March 22 2011 at 22:00
In Summary
  • Happy-go-lucky people may joke themselves to an early grave, says study conducted since 1921

Top achievers in school, you would expect, live longest, but they don’t. And neither do happy-go-lucky people who may joke themselves to an early grave.
If you work hard and not “smart” you are most likely to be blessed with a longer life than the laid-back type.
And if you started formal schooling early, being in Standard One before age six, chances of living to a ripe old age are slim.
Looks like another of the many theories of longevity that should be laughed off, but not so fast, considering that some 15,000 children have been followed step by step since 1921 — some of them, until their deaths.
One of the more astounding finding of this study which was concluded two weeks ago is that participants who were the most cheerful and had the best sense of humour as children lived shorter lives, on average, than those who were less cheerful and joking.
Explaining this, Prof Howard S. Friedman of the University of California, Riverside, and also the lead investigator, says the cheerful, happy-go-lucky children tended to take more risk with their health across the years.
“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,” says Prof Friedman in a statement released by the university last week.
The finding of what is the largest study on longevity in the world, called Project Longevity, involving over 100 investigators turns upside down the long held concept by sociologists — Cheer up. Stop worrying. Don’t work so hard.
This should have human resource managers who advocate that workers spend any possible moment relaxing with their families, scratching their heads.
Participants who were most involved and committed to their jobs did the best.
“Continually productive men and women lived much longer than their more laid-back comrades,” says the study started by researchers, some of whom have since died.
The Longevity Project followed the children through their lives, looking into any document or activity they were involved in. They pored into family histories and relationships, love life, teacher and parent ratings of personality, hobbies, pet ownership, job success, education levels, and numerous other details.
Death certificates
Finally the researchers tracked down death certificates to assess, why, when and how their subjects died and concluded that it is the most prudent and persistent individuals who stayed healthiest and lived the longest.
Most of those who died early just like recently found out in Kenya by the Institute of Economic Affairs may have considered their heath a low priority.
According to the Institute of Economic Affairs, 45 per cent of young Kenyans ranked job opportunities as their top priority compared to only four per cent who said the same of health. Health ranked below education, wealth and income distribution and political participation.
It’s never too late to choose a healthier path, Prof Friedman said. The first step is to throw away the lists and stop worrying about worrying.
“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,” Prof Friedman said.
“When we recognise 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,” he advised.

“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 professor concludes.

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