Laughter is healthy, but did you know that people who laugh sincerely live longer? This is according to research by psychologists from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Someone who smiles sincerely , often feels better and happier, the psychologists think. Happiness makes healthy, both mentally and physically, and who is healthy, lives longer †
For the study, the psychologists studied 196 portrait photos of American baseball players from the Baseball Register of 1952. They divided the photos into three categories:no smile, partial smile, and genuine smile (with the eyes also 'laughing'). Then it was looked at which baseball players had died and how old they had become.
For the group of players without a smile, the mean age at death was 73 years. Of the 64 players with partial smiles this was 75 years and of the 23 players with a genuine smile it was 80 years.
Another study last year also showed that people who smile a lot in photos get divorced less often †
