据近日《美国科学院学报》（PNAS）刊登的一项英国的最新研究发现，情绪最影响寿命。感觉快乐、生活满意度高的老年人，寿命会更长。
新研究负责人、英国伦敦大学学院人口健康部心理学教授安德鲁-斯特普托博士表示，快乐与健康之间存在一定的关联性，但目前的挑战是如何揭示其具体机理。
新研究中，研究人员要求3850名52—79岁参试者在24小时内分4次描述自己生活中的情绪变化情况，其中包括：快乐、兴奋、满意、担忧、焦虑或害怕。
新研究的目标是探索情绪的“积极影响”（快乐、安宁和兴奋）和“消极影响”（焦虑等）。之后，研究人员对参试者展开了长达5年的跟踪调查。结果发现，自诉最不快乐的1/3参试者死亡率超过7%。而自诉最快乐的1/3参试者同期死亡率仅为3.6%。
将参试者收入、年龄、性别、抑郁、癌症或糖尿病等疾病、以及吸烟等与健康相关的多种因素纳入考虑范畴之后，研究人员发现，自诉最快乐的参试者死亡率比自诉最不快乐的参试者低35%。对于焦虑等消极情绪与较短寿命之间的关联，研究者认为，抑郁和情绪低落或许与已经存在的某种疾病有关系。
美国纽约州立大学石溪分校预防医学教授斯蒂芬-波斯特博士表示，如果这项研究能对参试者继续进行10—15年跟踪调查，那么“快乐者”和“悲伤者”之间的死亡率差距还会更大。
Positive affect measured using ecological momentary assessment and survival in older men and women
Andrew Steptoe and Jane Wardle
Links between positive affect (PA) and health have predominantly been investigated by using measures of recollected emotional states. Ecological momentary assessment is regarded as a more precise measure of experienced well-being. We analyzed data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, a representative cohort of older men and women living in England. PA was assessed by aggregating momentary assessments over a single day in 3,853 individuals aged 52 to 79 y who were followed up for an average of 5 y. Respondents in the lowest third of PA had a death rate of 7.3%, compared with 4.6% in the medium-PA group and 3.6% in the high-PA group. Cox proportional-hazards regression showed a hazard ratio of 0.498 (95% confidence interval, 0.345–0.721) in the high-PA compared with the low-PA group, adjusted for age and sex. This was attenuated to 0.646 (95% confidence interval, 0.436–0.958) after controlling for demographic factors, negative affect, depressed mood, health indicators, and health behaviors. Negative affect and depressed mood were not related to survival after adjustment for covariates. These findings indicate that experienced PA, even over a single day, has a graded relationship with survival that is not caused by baseline health status or other covariates. Momentary PA may be causally related to survival, or may be a marker of underlying biological, behavioral, or temperamental factors, although reverse causality cannot be conclusively ruled out. The results endorse the value of assessing experienced affect, and the importance of evaluating interventions that promote happiness in older populations.