You’re less likely to live to a ripe old age of you’re one of those (annoyingly) neurotic types, in part because you’re more likely to smoke according to a new study.

Some of the association between moderate alcohol consumption and longer life is explained by the fact that teetotallers are less wealthy, less educated and more likely to be disabled, according to a new US study.

Dr Sei Lee and colleagues of San Francisco VA Medical Centre found one drink per day halved your risk of dying over the next four years, Reuters reports.

Contrary to received wisdom, your blood pressure, weight, or exercise levels aren’t particularly good indicators of your chance of living to a ripe old age – at least, not compared to your reaction times, according to a new study.

Despite how safe modern life seems, people with the slowest reaction times are more than twice as likely to die prematurely according to a new study published in the journal Intelligence.