Study Says People Who Are Always Late Will Live Longer

If you find yourself running late all the time, here’s something that will make you feel better about your tardiness. Not being able to make it to your appointments on time or missing pickup and drop-off times by just a few minutes can actually be good for you.

According to experts at Harvard Medical School, chronic lateness is actually a positive indicator of how a person handles stress and can actually predict a longer life span for that person. What the researchers found was people who are always running late are less stressed because they don’t allow things like deadlines or time crunches to cause unhealthy stress. Unlike people who strive to always be on time, people who are always tardy don’t allow the minutes on a clock stress them out. So over time these people actually have lower occurrences of stress-related health issues and depression, lower blood pressure, fewer chances for a stroke, and better cardiovascular health.

In addition to feeling better and healthier, people who are always late tend to have a better outlook on life and are more optimistic. So rather than focusing on the negatives of being late all the time, they are simply living their best lives. Researchers note this optimism is actually good for our health, too.

“Optimism helps people cope with disease and recover from surgery,” Harvard Health Publishing noted. “Even more impressive is the impact of a positive outlook on overall health and longevity. Research tells us that an optimistic outlook early in life can predict better health and a lower rate of death during follow-up periods of 15 to 40 years.”

So the next time you are stressing about running five or ten minutes late, take a deep breath and focus on the positives, knowing that running late might help you in the long run.