PHILADELPHIA — Oscar winners live nearly four years longer than their colleagues, according to a study that credits the “You like me! You really like me!” effect of an Academy Award on an actor's self-esteem.

        “Once you get the Oscar, it gives you an inner sense of peace and accomplishment that can last for your entire life, and that alters the way your body copes with stress on a day-to-day basis,” said Dr. Donald A. Redelmeier, a pro fessor of medicine at the University of Toronto and co-author of the study.

        Despite how actors like to say just being nominated is the important thing, just being nominated doesn't do anything for longevity.

        The study found Oscar winners live nearly four years longer than either actors who were never nominated or those who were nominated and did not win.

        Multiple winners are even more fortunate, living an average of six years longer than their silver-screen counterparts.

        The study was published in today's Annals of Internal Medicine.

        Dr. Redelmeier and co-author Sheldon Singh said the results cannot simply be explained away by higher income, because even Academy Award also-rans tend to be wealthy and can afford good health care.

        In an accompanying editorial, public health scholar Ray Fitzpatrick agreed: “Social status itself, regardless of associated material and economic advantages, may confer health benefits.”

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