Study: It's Okay To Be Unhappy
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's okay not to be the happiest person in the room.
It's even okay to be unhappy.
In fact, it's alright to be downright miserable.
In the past, happiness has been associated with reduced mortality.
But now scientists say feeling joyless won't make you die sooner.
A new study published in the December issue of the medical journal Lancet finds that happiness and well-being don't have a direct impact on longevity.
Researchers analyzed nearly 720,000 middle-aged women who enrolled in a UK breast cancer program in the early 1990's.
They were asked to self-rate their health, including happiness, stress and feelings of control.
39% reporting being happy "most of the time," 44% considered themselves "usually" happy, while 17% classified themselves as unhappy.
After they were tracked for a decade, 4% of the participants had died.
The study found that the death rate among unhappy women was the same as those who were happy.
The women who rated themselves with poor health, including high blood pressure, diabetes and arthritis, were more likely to rate themselves as unhappy, however.
Researchers conclude that poor health can cause some to be downhearted, but being downhearted alone doesn't affect mortality.
They say whatever emotion you're feeling won't shorten your life.
So go ahead and be mad. Or sad. Or be happy, because as many studies before this have shown, being happy is definitely not bad for you.
