Honesty could boost your health.

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A new study from Notre Dame University finds that telling fewer lies benefits people physically and mentally. Researchers studied 110 people for 10 weeks—the participants took lie detector tests and the assessed the number of lies they told each week.

“We found that the participants could purposefully and dramatically reduce their everyday lies, and that in turn was associated with significantly improved health,” says lead author Anita Kelly, a Notre Dame psychology professor whose research includes the study of secrets and self-disclosure.

Those who told the fewest lies had the fewest physical and mental health complaints.

The “Science of Honesty” study was presented recently at the American Psychological Association’s 120th annual convention.