It would appear that the more you do, the more successful you are in your "more formative years", the longer you will live to.

According to research conducted by Canadian psychologist Stewart McCann (See: McCann, S. J. H. (in press). The precocity-longevity hypothesis: Earlier achievement peaks predict shorter lives. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. ), the more you achieve at an earlier stage in your life, the more likely it is you will die younger.

He looked at thousands of so called 'high achievers' from Nobel Prize winners, Presidents, Prime Ministers etc...

In the majority of cases those achieving more at an earlier age also died far earlier than those achieving greatness later on in life.

He even found that psychologists who were young when they received their PhDs died younger on average than those who received them in their thirties, forties and beyond.

Early achievers are generally "Type 'A' Personalities" - highly driven, motivated and aggressive.

 Being too work oriented and pushy with an extremely competitive bent puts extreme pressure on the heart and Type A's are much more likely to suffer serious and fatal heart disease (pretty much the most serious of all types of heart disease!).

So if you are unhappy with what you have accomplished thus far in your life, relax...

It might just give you a few years more!

If you are a 'Type A' personality (you know who you are!), fear not, all is not lost. Provided you take time out and relax regularly and often, you should still manage to cheat the grim reaper ;-)