43 words you should learn to live by

Recalling good memories for just 20 minutes a day can make people feel more cheerful than they did the week before, according to researchers at Loyola University Chicago, whose study was reported in Psychology Today. “There’s a magic and mystery in positive events,” psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky reported.

Experts from the University of California, Los Angeles, Brain Mapping Center found in a small study that the brains of people who meditate had larger volumes of grey matter – the area responsible for memory, emotions, seeing, hearing, speech, impulse control and decision making.

When you want dessert, take a bite or two of the good stuff. People who manage their weight best happily succumb at times, says Susan B. Roberts, co-author of a Tufts University study on cravings.

With laughter, that is. Dr Michael Miller wrote in his book Heal Your Heart that when 20 people were asked to watch a clip from Saving Private Ryan, Kingpin, Shallow Hal or There’s Something About Mary, participants’ blood vessels narrowed by up to 50 per cent during the stress-inducing clips, while vessel dilation in people who watched a funny clip increased by 22 per cent. “After just 15 minutes of laughing, volunteers got the same benefit as they would from spending 15 to 30 minutes at the gym or taking a daily statin,” wrote Miller.

Running just five to ten minutes every day reduces the risk of death from heart disease by 50 per cent and overall mortality risk by 29 per cent, a Journal of the American College of Cardiology study found.

An Oxford University review found that people with bigger behinds (pear shape) generally had lower levels of cholesterol and blood glucose and may be less likely to develop diabetes or heart disease than those who carried their weight around the stomach (apple shape). More research needs to be done to prove a protective effect, but scientists have observed that fat on the lower body secretes fewer inflammatory substances than abdominal fat does.

To uncover the secrets of living to 100, researchers from the University of Chicago compiled data on more than 1500 centenarians born between 1880 and 1895 and compared their backgrounds with those of nearly 12,000 of their siblings and spouses. They found that if you were born in the autumn months, you have an above-average chance of living an extra- long life, perhaps because milder autumn weather places less stress on babies and causes fewer seasonal infections.

Fifty-five grams of cheese a day (about two slices) reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by about 12 per cent, compared with eating no cheese, according to findings reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers speculate that the probiotic bacteria in cheese and yoghurt may lower cholesterol and produce certain vitamins that shield against diabetes. Keep to the recommended portion, as cheese can be high in fat.

Men who shopped daily had a 28 per cent lower risk of dying early than those who shopped less often, showed a ten-year study of 2000 people over the age of 65 in Taiwan; among women, the risk reduction was 23 per cent. Healthier people may be more likely to go to the shops in the first place, but shopping every day could help you live longer by increasing your social contact, physical fitness and mental agility.

In Australia’s largest ongoing study of healthy ageing, researchers analysed the daily routines of more than 230,000 people and found that sleeping too much (more than nine hours per night), sitting too much (more than seven hours a day) and not exercising enough (less than 150 minutes a week) correlate to quadrupl ing the risk of dying prematurely.