Heaven Help Us: The Nun Study on Happiness

One of the most unique, intriguing, and powerful studies on the impact of positive emotions on our health and lifespan is the ‘Nun Study’. It started in the 1930 when a group of almost 680 nuns were about to enter the convent. They were asked to write autobiographical sketches of themselves, reflecting on their lives and the future.

About 70 years later, Dr. Snowden and his research team decided to analyze these diaries. The researchers wanted to find out if what these nuns wrote in their diaries during their early twenties predicted how long they lived and if they developed dementia.

The homogeneous lifestyle of the nuns made them an ideal group to study. They had similar diets and surroundings; and they didn’t smoke, drink to excess, or have children.

The researchers found that the nuns who had a bachelor's degree or higher were less likely to develop Alzheimer's and they also lived longer than their colleagues who didn’t have higher education.

They also found that exercise was inversely related to developing Alzheimer’s disease, showing that nuns who did daily physical activity were more likely to retain cognitive abilities during old age. And it’s never too late to start moving. The nuns who started exercising later in life were more likely to retain cognitive abilities, even if they hadn’t exercised before.

These findings are very important, but there’s one intriguing finding. The nuns whose diary entries had more positive content lived nearly a decade longer than their less cheerful peers. At the age of 85, more than 90% of the happiest nuns were still alive, compared to only about a third of the unhappiest nuns. Not only did the sisters who seemed to have a more positive outlook on life have less disease and lower mortality rates, they also seemed to have a natural immunization against Alzheimer’s disease.

In short, a positive outlook on life may not only help you live longer and prevent you from having dementia, but if you do have the disease you may not be as affected by it as much as your less optimistic and less cheerful counterparts.

Don’t worry, be happy.