If you stumbled downstairs in the morning in the house of my youth, my mother would breezily greet you with a sparkling “Good morning, sweetie.” Anything less than an equally cheery response would merit a shake of her head and commentary about you “waking up on the wrong side of the bed.”

My mother was a morning person. So am I. While that doesn’t mean I jump out of bed singing “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” it does mean you can talk to me and get a coherent response within seconds of me opening my eyes, unlike my son, who has always needed a half hour to wake up.

It also means, according to research done by the University of Toronto, that I will live longer. The research, conducted on older people, indicates that those who indicated they were morning people generally have a more positive attitude in life as opposed to night owls, who tend to be more pessimistic.

But of course the research also points out that most people who are night owls in their youth often become morning people once they age past 60 and they start going to bed earlier and subsequently get more sleep.

I can see the correlation between being a morning person and a more positive outlook on life. But I’m not so certain about the living longer part. My mother died at 63, despite her positive outlook and early morning cheer. But I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.