​​An article in Prevention magazine cited research conducted at Yale University which found that being optimistic in middle age increases your life span by 7.5 years. The reason is that optimistic people are able to minimize the destructive effects of stress. “Of course, optimistic people get stressed,” says David Snowden, a professor neurology at the University of Kentucky who studies aging. “But they automatically turn the response off more quickly and return to a positive mental and physical state.” The article listed several habits that are at the heart of an optimistic disposition: 1) Optimists regularly socialize with their friends either in person or on the phone, 2) They express their gratitude for all the good things that happen to them and 3) They’re randomly kind. These are simple things that all of us can do and, as the research shows, if we do them on a regular basis, we’ll add years to our lives.