Want to live long? Make new friends.

If you want to live to a ripe old age, and have your faculties about you, keep on making new friends.  When you live into your 70’s, 80’s and 90’s many of your old friends and family members die off well before you do.

Loneliness leads to premature aging.  What you need to do is have a continuing willingness to make new friends.  That means you are the person at a party who walks up to total strangers and says hello.  Once you get past the small talk stage you will find you can start establishing relationships.

If you saw the Walt Disney movie “Up” you saw that after a man’s wife died he became a lonely old grouch.  It was only after he let a young boy into his life and essentially adopt him, he could return to a form of joyous living.

What Runs in the Family
Researchers examined the personalities of grown children of centenarians, with the assumption that they would have a good shot of living to 100, too. What did they find?

They found that personality plays a role in how long a person will live. Their children were not only more outgoing, but also had a knack for forming close friendships and for dealing with stress effectively.  It was more likely that the kids learned from watching their folks interact with the world around them rather than inheriting good genes.

This all makes sense when you consider other research has shown that these particular personality traits are associated with greater happiness, vitality, and longevity in older populations.

Why you want to be around happy people
It seems that happy people can give off good vibes and effect the happiness of the people around them, the same way a ripple spreads through a pond. Not only do immediate friends matter, but friends of friends, too — more so if they happen to live close by.  That means you can enjoy the “ripple effect” of having upbeat friends and pass it on.

Compassionate Caveat
Of course, we don’t mean you should ditch unhappy friends or family members. Instead, remember that the road to happiness is a two-way street. You may spread happiness to pessimistic pals by feeling upbeat yourself.

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