If you're feeling a little down, here's news that may pick you up. A recently published study finds that older women with mild depression are significantly more likely to live longer than those who suffer from more serious depression or those who aren't depressed at all. Study co-author Dan Blazer, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center, calls the findings very preliminary, but very intriguing.

"Some mild blues may actually be in some way protective, just like a fever is protective. Again, quite speculative, but it would be one way perhaps to explain these findings, if these findings hold up."

In the 10-year study, funded by the National Institute on Aging, women 65 and older with mild depression, sometimes characterized as 'the blues,' were 40 percent less likely to die prematurely than older women in the other groups.

"We found this was true even when we controlled for factors such as their age and functional capacity, things that we know to be associated with mortality."

Blazer says more research is underway to see if these findings can be replicated. By the way, the findings of increased longevity did not hold true for older men. I'm Cabell Smith for MedMinute.