Health Highlights: March 15, 2007

At the start of the study, participants filled out questionnaires on how easily they found humor in everyday life and how important they felt it was to have a humorous perspective,USA Todayreported.

People who scored in the highest 25 percent of humor appreciation were 35 percent more likely to be alive at the end of seven years than those in the bottom quarter, the study found.

The survival advantage of having a humorous outlook was especially noticeable in a subgroup of 2,015 cancer patients. Those with a healthy sense of humor were about 70 percent less likely to die than those with a weak sense of humor,USA Todayreported.

The study was presented at a meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society.

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Frequent Binge Drinking Increasing Among U.S. College Students

Rates of frequent binge drinking and prescription drug abuse among U.S. college students are on the rise, along with consequences such as risky sexual behavior and arrests, a new report says.

The report, based largely on previously released research, found that the number of college students who drink (68 percent) or binge drink (40 percent) hasn't changed much since 1993, theAssociated Pressreported.

However, there have been major increases in the number of students who binge drink frequently (five drinks at a sitting, three or more times in two weeks); drink 10 or more times a month; and who get drunk three or more times a month, the report said.

It also found that since the early 1990s, hundreds of thousands more college students are abusing prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Ritalin and Adderall, and rates of daily marijuana use have more than doubled, to about four percent, theAPreported.

Based on an analysis of data, the report authors calculated that 23 percent of college students meet the medical criteria for substance abuse or dependence. That's about triple the rate in the general population.

The report was released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.