Parenting

People Who Are Chronically Late Will Live Longer, More Successful Lives

by Thea Glassman
Image via seb_ra/Getty

According to science, people who are always late will live longer and be more successful in life

Are you always ordering an Uber ten minutes before you’re actually supposed to be somewhere? Is your go-to text: “Sorry, running a little behind..almost there!” Well, research says that your chronic lateness is actually a very, very good sign for your future. So, take THAT to all your friends who are literally always five minutes early and it’s actually somewhat annoying.

Before you get all smug, here are the scientific facts backing up this claim. Southern Living reported a whole slew of studies that prove late people are healthier, more successful, and live longer lives. Basically, stress is really, really bad for your health and people who are late tend to be less stressed out in general. That means that they have a lower risk of having a stroke, getting heart disease, or having high blood pressure.

So, I guess everybody should throw away their watches and just chill out a little bit? I mean, science says.

Late people also tend to have a more positive overall outlook on the world. They genuinely think they can get all the shit on their to do list done, and still make it somewhere on time. That’s a frame of mind we could all use.

“Many late people tend to be both optimistic and unrealistic,” Diana DeLonzor, author of Never Be Late Again, explained. “They remember that single shining day 10 years ago when they really did all those things in 60 minutes flat, and forget all the other times that everything took much, much longer.”

So, how does that fit into a person’s overall health? Well, according to a study from Harvard Medical School, an emotionally healthy view of the world can actually increase your lifespan.

“Optimism helps people cope with disease and recover from surgery,” the study explained. “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.”

I guess the moral of the story is that we should all embrace our lateness and live our best, most optimistic lives. But pleeeease don’t be late by more than, like, 11 minutes. Let’s not get too crazy here.