You're going to die young, you smug git.

[fretslider]

I just lurrrrv these sci-shock-horror headlines.

The latest research shows happiness can kill, that's what 'scientists' claim, after discovering that people who are too full of joy die younger than their more downbeat peers.

Children who are rated "highly cheerful" at school went onto die younger than their more reserved class mates. This is because they are likely to lead more carefree lives full of danger and unhealthy lifestyle choices, it is believed. Being too cheerful – especially at inappropriate times – can also rouse anger in others, increasing the risk of a person coming to harm.

One study saw participants asked to read an article offering ways to improve your mood, and follow one of the tips to see how effective it was. Participants then took the advice offered – such as watching an upbeat film – often concentrated too hard on trying to improve their mood rather than letting it lift naturally. This meant that by the time the film had ended, they often felt angry and cheated by the advice given, putting them in a far worse mood than when they had started watching.

Professor June Gruber: "The strongest predictor of happiness is not money, or external recognition through success or fame. It's having meaningful social relationships."


If you were/are a moody bastard, you'll live forever.

[sadie]

Nah......it just seems like forever!!!

[beth]

Naaaaa ... this is just a couple of researchers sitting at a table with a bong, a box of twinkies and a bar graph.

Several of my former class mates are no longer living. Taking a quick backward glance, a couple of them were fun-loving but the majority were more reticent and quiet. I seriously doubt it means anything either way.

[Deleted]

Hm, that is certainly an interesting theory.

[maggie]

Well, I don't belieeeeeeeeeeeeeve it! (said in Victor Meldrew's voice)

[Erasmus]

Makes perfect sense, comparing idealistic fantasy with reality is never a good idea. The old Count your Blessings adage can really work - never mind that you are not and never wil be the idealized fantasy, you are not a Dark Age peasant destined to a life of grubbing the soil before dying of incurable lingering disease or some marauder's axe or birth or infection thereafter or torture for the fun of it.

That we failed to achieve our ideals is never so bad, because successors will, but it is even possible that the ideals we think we had were not what they actually were at the time, because just having them progressed them further.

I know that there was a time in my life when I came perilously close to what would later be called Yuppie and I despised anybody with no more independent sense of self-esteem than to want to work for a living. In one sense, I still do. But in another, I distinguish between work as the traditional craftsman, housewife and artist regarded it as creative expression as the poor sods like miners and assembly line workers did, as servitude necessary to survive - and then again, from those who overtook us, as manipulating money for the sake of gaining more money with no creative production at all.