About 15 years ago, American researchers published a study analyzing the use of positive emotions in the writings of nuns and its connection to life expectancy.
Researchers at the University of Kentucky studied the essays and journals of 678 members of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. They discovered that nuns who used words such as happy, joy, love, hopeful, and content in their writings lived as much as 10 years longer than those who used such words less frequently.
This is another way positive mental health can make a difference in our overall health.