Key To Longer Life: “Flourishing”

Want to live for a good long time? Flourish. What? According to the researchers at Emory University who determined that those of us who flourish are 60 percent less likely to die prematurely than those who don’t, flourishing means a few things. It means “feeling good” and “functioning well in life,” but it also “encompasses factors such as managing stress, achieving intimacy with others, working productively and making a contribution to society.” That, apparently, is harder than one might think. The researchers looked at data describing the emotional health of about 3,000 people, and found that only 18 percent fell into the “flourishing” category, meaning they enjoyed high emotional well-being as well as high social well-being, while nearly 50 percent met the criteria for high emotional well-being alone. There are, of course, fates worse than failing to flourish. The researchers report that 6.3 percent of the participants died during the study. Read more from Emory University.