Being happy may protect against frailty

<body leftmargin="0" bgcolor="#000060" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFF00" vlink="#FF9900"> <b> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="4">Happiness may slow the aging process, researchers find</font></b> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="1">Posted Sept. 12, 2004<br> Courtesy The American Psychological Association<br> and World Science Staff</font> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"><b>Being happy may help protect you from becoming frail in old age, researchers have found. </b></font> </p> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100" style="float: right" height="96"> <tr> <td style="border-style: ridge; border-color: #FFFFFF"><img border="0" src="http://www.dutchessny.gov/CountyGov/Departments/Aging/Graphics/Nutrition.jpg" width="200" height="280"></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font face="Arial" size="1">Being happy may reduce your risk of becoming frail as you age, researchers have found. (Image courtesy Dutchess County, NY Dept. of Nutrition)</font></td> </tr> </table> <p><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"><b>Researchers at the University of Texas found a link between positive emotions and the likelihood of becoming frail among 1,558 older Mexican Americans living in the region. </b></font> <p><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"><b>Over seven years, the number of participants who became frail increased by almost 8 percent, the researchers said. But the ones who described themselves as happy were somewhat less likely to become frail.</b></font> <p><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"><b>At various points during the study, the researchers assessed how happy each participant was by asking them whether they felt hopeful, whether they they enjoyed life and similar questions. Each participant was given a score of between one and 12, based on how happy they described themselves as.</b></font></p> <p><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"><b>Each point increase in the score, called a "positive affect score," was associated with a 3 percent decreased risk of frailty, after adjusting for relevant risk factors, the researchers said..</b></font> <p><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"><b>Why this works is unclear, but the researchers speculate that positive emotions may directly affect the body's chemical balance through brain cell responses. Or a more indirect process may be at work, according to the authors, with positive emotions affecting health by increasing a person's intellectual, physical, psychological and social resources.</b></font></p> <p><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"><b>The study, by Glenn Ostir and colleagues, appears in the September issue of the journal Psychology and Aging.</b></font> </body>