Thaindian News

Washington, Oct 21 (IANS) If you want to live longer, keep your stress to a minimum, get married and have a glass of wine every night, new research says.

Researchers found that people who self-reported that they had good health tended to live longer. Moderate drinkers also lived longer than non-drinkers.

“Being a teetotaller and a smoker were risk factors for mortality,” said Carolyn Aldwin, professor of human development and family sciences at Oregon State University, who led the study.

Men who experience moderate or high levels of stress over a number of years have a 50 percent higher mortality rate, the Journal of Aging Research reports.

“So perhaps trying to keep your major stress events to a minimum, being married and having a glass of wine every night is the secret to a long life,” Aldwin stated.

Unlike previous studies conducted over a relatively short term with smaller sample sizes, this study was modified to document major stressors - such as death of a spouse or putting a parent into a retirement home - that specifically affect middle-aged and older people.

“I modified the stress measure to reflect the kinds of stress that we know impacts us more as we age, and even we were surprised at how strong the correlation between stress trajectories and mortality was,” Aldwin said, according to an Oregon statement.