The Longevity Project

In 1921, Lewis Terman, a psychologist at Stanford University began a long-term study of 1,528 twelve year old American children.  The goal of this project was to study their lives and habits until they died.  Recently, Howard Friedman, a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California Riverside and Leslie Martin, Professor of Psychology at La Sierra University in Riverside, California analyzed the data from this 90 year old study and published their conclusions in a book titled The Longevity Project.  One of the more fascinating things they found was that the people who lived the longest were not the ones who were the happiest or the most laid back, but the ones who were the most engaged in pursuing their goals.  The authors concluded the idea that working too hard can shorten your life is a myth.  What they found instead was that, “The people who worked the hardest lived the longest.”  Janice Lloyd from USA Today reviewed the book and came up with this prescription for longevity: “Work hard (at something you enjoy).  Don’t retire early.”