Acting with high moral character is strongly linked to a lower risk of depression. Traits like honesty and integrity directly influence mental and physical health.

Fortitude, temperance, transcendence, and sincerity predict better health outcomes, including reduced cardiovascular disease risk.

Pro-social behaviors — volunteering, helping others, acts of kindness — lead to healthier body weights, lower cholesterol, and lower blood pressure.

The Harvard Study of Adult Development shows close relationships are as critical to health as physical exercise and diet, reducing chronic stress that damages the body.

"Loving-kindness meditation" and acts of kindness are associated with lower levels of inflammation and improved cardiovascular health.