Excerpt from betawired.com

People with the greatest well-being lives longer than people with least well-being according to a new study. The study was based on an eight-year follow-up period of 9,050 English people. The researchers from the University College London (UCL), Princeton University, and Stony Brook University surveyed 9,050 participants with an average age of 65. The questionnaires measured “eudemonic well-being” of the participants. “Eudemonic well-being,” pertains to the individual’s sense of control, feeling that what you do is worthwhile and sense of purpose in life.

According to the researchers, they already adjusted factors that might affect the result of the survey such as demographics, physical activity and alcohol intake.
During the duration of the study, only nine percent of the people with great well-being died while 29 percent in the least well-being category died. With all other factors considered, the result of the study shows that people with the highest well-being were 30 percent less likely to die. It means they live two years longer than people do in the least-well-being group.

Professor Andrew Steptoe, director of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, who led the study, concludes that the result shows ho happiness is associated with risk of death. “These analyses show that the meaningfulness and sense of purpose that older people have in their lives are also related to survival,” he further added.