Whoops. Minor technical today. (Translation: I accidentally set the "send time" wrong.) Thanks for your patience!

In today's newsletter ...

• If you like to sleep and/or to be happy, here's some good news. (LPM)
• A new Florida law will ban social media for kids under age 14.
• Gen Z embraces side hustles because "loyalty is dead."

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Optimistic? Live longer.

Here’s some good news about good news, especially if you’re the kind of person who wants to sleep better and live longer -- maybe even many years longer.

(Honestly, who doesn’t fit into at least one of those two categories?)

Let’s start with living longer. An enormous study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences combined two research projects that examined data on a total of 71,173 people—some of them over 30 years—and found that having an optimistic outlook on life was associated with living significantly longer.

How much longer? As much as 15 percent, which could easily translate to 10 years or more.

The researchers, from several institutions including Harvard, drew on data from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study (NAS).

They found that maintaining an optimistic outlook was associated with greater longevity than their less-optimistic peers, regardless of other factors that we associate with longer life, such as:

• making healthy choices (or lack thereof),
• socioeconomic status,
• health conditions,
• incidence of depression, and
• “social integration.”

“Our results further suggest that optimism is specifically related to 11 to 15 percent longer life span, on average, and to greater odds of achieving ‘exceptional longevity,’ that is, living to the age of 85 or beyond,” the study’s authors wrote.

That’s pretty darn good news, right? Especially if you can train yourself to be the kind of person who instinctively looks on the bright side.

But wait, there’s still more.

Separately, a five-year study of 3,500 people living in three different U.S. cities found that optimistic people fall asleep faster, sleep better and longer, and are generally better rested than their less-optimistic peers.

Longer life and better sleep, what’s not to like?

The causal relationship between optimism and sleep isn’t determined by this study, but one theory is that the behaviors that ultimately make people more optimistic also can lead to more restful sleep (as opposed to the idea that optimism itself leads to better sleep).

“Optimists are more likely to engage in active problem-focused coping and to interpret stressful events in more positive ways,” said the study’s author, Rosalba Hernandez, a professor of social work at the University of Illinois, “reducing worry and ruminative thoughts when they’re falling asleep and throughout their sleep cycle.”

Either way: Sleep better, and live longer, and it’s all associated with simply having a more optimistic outlook on life. Even if it’s all a self-fulfilling prophesy, it’s one worth trying to adopt.

(Note: This is a "low power mode" edition of the newsletter, as I gear up for next week's big stuff. If you've been around long enough to remember this from years ago, I love you.)

7 other things worth knowing today

• Former President Donald Trump will stand trial April 15 on criminal charges related to hush money payments meant to cover up claims of marital infidelity, a New York judge ruled Monday, tersely swatting aside defense claims of prosecutorial misconduct. Separately, A state appeals court ruled that Trump has 10 days to post a $175 million bond in his civil fraud case, down from the $464 million judgment that was originally due Monday. The 11th-hour ruling is a major victory and relief for Trump, whose attorneys had said coming up with the larger bond was a “practical impossibility.” (AP, NBC News)
• Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will leave his position at the end of this year, the company announced Monday. Why it matters: It's the latest fallout for the company, which has faced intense scrutiny over quality and safety issues in recent months after one of its 737 MAX 9 jets experienced a mid-flight door plug blowout in January. (Axios)
• Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law banning children under age 14 from having their own social media accounts on Monday, according to a news release from the governor’s office. Fourteen and 15-year-olds will be allowed to have accounts with parental consent. The bill, known as HB 3, also requires age verification for those who visit sexually explicit websites. HB 3 goes into effect on January 1, 2025. (CNN)
• Adam Neumann, former chief executive and co-founder of WeWork, recently submitted an offer to buy the bankrupt co-working company for more than $500 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter. I wrote so much about Neumann's crazy strategies back when he launched this company and escaped with a $2 billion golden parachute. Now he's back! (WSJ)
• China, Russia and Iran are fuelling disinformation about the Princess of Wales to destabilize the United Kingdom, British government sources say. Senior Government figures fear that hostile states are behind the spread of wild conspiracy theories and online rumours surrounding the Princess’s health. (The Telegraph)
• Properties owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs located in Miami and Los Angeles were raided by Homeland Security on Monday afternoon. NBC News cited an unnamed source as saying that three women and a man have been interviewed by federal officials in Manhattan and three other interviews are scheduled in relation to allegations of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and the solicitation and distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms; however, it remains unconfirmed whether Combs himself is the focus of the investigation, although multiple sexual misconduct claims have been levied against him in recent months. (Variety)
• Gen Z embraces side hustles because "loyalty is dead." (The Washington Post)

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