I enjoy the things that I do

• Never
• Rarely
• Sometimes
• Often

I enjoy being in the company of others

• Never
• Rarely
• Sometimes
• Often

On balance, I look back on my life with a sense of happiness

• Never
• Rarely
• Sometimes
• Often

I feel full of energy these days

• Never
• Rarely
• Sometimes
• Often

If you’ve answered “sometimes” or “often” to two or three of these questions, a December, 2016 article in the British Medical Journal has good news for you.

More than 9,000 people over the age of 50 took this quiz and the authors reported that those who scored high in “enjoyment of life” had about one-third lower risk of mortality over the next seven years. Even if you scored only medium high on the quiz (two items ranked “sometimes” or “often”) your mortality risk went down by one-sixth.

Here’s the link to the full article.