A cheerful outlook doesn’t just make you feel better, it can actually boost your brain. That’s the finding of a newly published study, which shows that positivity might have the biggest impact on our brains as we age.
The study found that people who feel enthusiastic and cheerful about life are less likely to experience memory decline. Psychologists call this “positive effect”, and these new findings add to a growing body of research that indicates the importance of cheerfulness on healthy ageing. In the study, published in the journal Psychological Science, psychologists at Northwestern University in Illinois followed nearly 1,000 people for 20 years from their midlife onwards. The investigators found that, across the board, memory declined as the years passed. Yet, according to
