Can Being Happy Make You Live Longer?

Recent reports from the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere have quantified the health benefits of happiness. Indeed, one famous study of American nuns found that the happier cohort lived an average nine years longer than the sour set. Therapists are now codifying methods for encouraging positive thoughts. In the UK, thousands are being trained in what is known as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the goal of which is to help individuals overcome negative feelings. In a recent UCSF lecture centering on happiness and brain plasticity, a group of speakers, including Stuart Eisendrath, MD, professor of clinical psychiatry at the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, considered how happiness can be generated. "Usually it is not to be found in external rewards, but rather by changing one's internal mind-set." Moreover, specific techniques in addition to CBT may offer useful techniques to increase happiness, says Eisendrath. These include mindfulness meditation, which has been shown in studies to actually change brain functioning. "It appears to increase activation of certain areas such as the left prefrontal cortex, which has been associated with positive emotional states." Further studies, both at UCSF and elsewhere, are exploring this relationship between brain and mind in more depth. The key to a longer life may be in our own hands - and heads - after all.