According to a new research conducted on college students, the research suggests that optimists and happy people are healthier overall. This research published in the Biomedical Journal of Scientific and Technical Research, suggest that universities should creatively design wellness programmes and centres that dynamically integrate body, mind and spirit into a seamless unit. Earlier the research also suggested that noticing nature could increase your happiness.

College students are the one who faces high rates of anxiety and depression and often neglects physical self-care and exercise. Researchers from the University of Michigan and Fudan University in China set out to learn the extent to which body mass index (BMI) and positive outlook affect the physical and mental health of college students in China’s Fudan University.

To assess physical and mental health, the researchers also asked few students many questions about their sleep quality and how often they felt healthy, energised, worthless, fidgety, anxious or depressed. Taken together, the four psychological variables and BMI accounted for 41% of the total variance in health, Chen said. Individually, subjective happiness had the most significant impact, followed by hope, and then BMI, the study showed.