Why do optimists have lower blood pressure and heightened immunity? Why have studies found asthmatics breathe easier after writing down traumatic events? And how is it that good relationships are a buffer against everything from heart disease to the common cold, and religious observance so often goes hand in hand with longevity? In his cutting-edge and compelling Emotional Longevity, one of America's most prominent behavioral science leaders bridges the two poles of recent scientific research-biological and behavioral science-to formulate a new paradigm of what it means to be healthy. It is far more than genetics, diet, or exercise. Far more than the mere absence of disease. More multifaceted even than the now-established mind/body link. Emotional Longevitymaps out the life-long web of scientifically proven connections between biology and social environment, biology and beliefs, biology and emotions. Dr. Norman Anderson illustrates the crucial links between the existential and the physical in dozens of lives, from his own and his family's to those of figures such as Maya Angelou, Wally "Famous" Amos, and Linda Ellerbee. And he shows readers how to orchestrate this interplay in themselves-the key to surviving illnesses, disasters, or traumas, living life to the fullest, and aging successfully.