It's true! You can add years to your life, according to a research study carried out at Yale University. How can this result be achieved? By looking on the bright side of life. Apparently, positive thinking does a lot more than make you feel good. The researchers found that keeping positive and not dwelling on your worries is important to your life-span.

So, you have determined that you are a positive person. What else is needed to maintain a healthy and productive life? Below are five thoughts on the subject:

1) Get a good night of sleep.

So often, sleep falls to the wayside, and insomnia becomes a regular part of our routine because of other habits we have that throw our bodies out of balance. But ensuring that you take care of your restlessness right when it happens will make you a much healthier person. Try to go to bed at the same time every night, avoid eating near bedtime, and plan on staying asleep for seven to nine hours. You will look and feel so much better the next day.

2) Don't sweat the small stuff.

This is pretty self-explanatory, but there is no use in placing undue stress upon the body. All this will do is raise our blood pressure and make us frazzled. Prioritize and realize that some aspects of our lives are not worth getting upset about.

3) Maintain a well-balanced diet.

Sometimes what we put into our bodies can throw us completely off kilter. When we are on the go, we immediately want to delve into pre-packaged snack foods or greasy fast food so we can be on our way. But eventually this catches up with us, because while we think we are saving time, we are allowing our bodies to feel useless and worn out in the long run. We need to ensure that we get the proper amount of vitamins and nutrients so that we have the energy to be on the go all day long. This includes protein, calcium and all of the wonderful things that fruits and vegetables can give us.

4) Make lists, and check them twice.

People often think that taking the time to write out our chores and responsibilities is worthless, but ask yourself how often you forget to do menial tasks because they were not right in front of you. By making a list, you can adequately plan out your day. Sure, things do not always go accordingly, but at least you have a valuable outline from which to work. Plus, you have great satisfaction from crossing these tasks out one by one as you accomplish them.

5) Exercise at least twenty minutes each day.

Walking up and down the stairs on your front porch or making your way from your desk to the copy machine at work does not count as exercise. It is important for this age group not to shirk exercise, as it provides you with muscle tone, and gives you higher levels of serotonin in the brain. When you feel good after exercising, things will be more in balance overall. You will have more energy to conquer the day, you will have better clarity in order to remember things, and you will feel tired when you should at night.