The average life span in the U.S. is 78 and one half years.

Here’s a couple tips to help you hit the average and go above it from Friedman and Martin’s published study called “The Longevity Project.”  The study followed 1,500 people through 80 years and involved a couple generations of researchers.

Here are some of their findings:

1.  Cheerful and optimistic children were less likely to live longer than their more conscientious and sober counterparts.

Conscientiousness, which was the best predictor of longevity when measured in childhood, also turned out to be the best personality predictor of long life when measured in adulthood.  The young adults who were thrifty, persistent, detail oriented, and responsible lived the longest.”

2.  Worrying and stress often lead to a more conscientious living and thus longer life.

3.  Parental divorce often leads to shorter lives.

4.  Having a stable and successful career, even when this involves greater responsibility, longer hours and stress, aids in longevity.

5.  Religious people live longer [it's their abstemious lifestyle, social network and friendly/helper tendencies, not necessarily their religiosity].

6.  Strong social relationships significantly boost longevity.

“It was not those who felt the most connected and appreciated but those who had many actual ties in their social networks and who were engaged with helping others, who lived longest.”

7.  Women who had a higher frequency of achieving orgasm during sex tended to live longer than their less fulfilled sisters.

8.  Both more masculinized males and females as measured by the self assessment scales tended to die sooner than their respective more feminized cohorts.

9.  Being married to the same person for a long time [however, one might define that] benefited males as far as longevity, but added little or nothing to the lifespan of the female partner.

10.  They conclude:

“having a large social network, engaging in physical activities that naturally draw you in and are part of your daily routine [like gardening], enjoying and thriving in your career, and nurturing a healthy marriage or close friendships can do more than add many years to your life. Together they represent the living with purpose that comes from working hard, reaching out to others, and bouncing back from difficult times…Striving for a socially richer and more productive life will increase the odds of a long life as well.”

Enter Your Mail Address