If you are too tired to exercise, and that Christmas cookie is too delicious to resist, you can still do something good for your heart — be happy. Dr. Karina Davidson of Columbia University Medical Center says that “If you aren’t naturally a happy person, just try acting like one,” according to a recent Associated Press news article. Researchers studied more than 1,700 adults for over a decade, and found that the ones that were happier had fewer heart attacks.

Maybe it’s because happier people tend to have healthier lifestyles, or because they have less stress and thus avoid the hormones that damage heart muscles which stress can produce. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that even faking happiness can help your health. And if my experience is any guide, sometimes when you put your heart into faking happiness — really give it that old college try — before you know it you are feeling genuinely happier.

It’s worth a try. So turn that frown upside down and follow the advice of Bob Marley — don’t worry, Be Happy!