There's nothing worse than a self-fulfilling prophecy--and if you worry about falling, there's a good chance you might fulfill that prophecy.

A new study finds that seniors who fear falling the most have a higher risk of actually falling, even if they're otherwise unlikely to take a spill. In fact, 40 percent of seniors who have a low actual risk of falling but a high level of fear actually end up taking a tumble.

It's as if fear itself is trying to give you an unfriendly push.

Researchers divided 500 people between the ages of 70 and 90 years old into four groups based on their perceptions of their risk and their actual risk.

Most people--69 percent--knew exactly where they stood. They had a low risk of falling and knew it... or a higher risk and also knew it.

But the remaining 31 percent had a bit of a perception gap. Researchers divided them into two groups: "anxious" and "stoic."

The anxious seniors had a low physiological risk of falling, but strong fears that they could fall--and those fears came true, because researchers say these seniors fell more often than the should have, statistically speaking.

These patients were also more likely to show symptoms of depression and harbor irrational fears, according to the study in BMJ. They had lower qualities of life, less executive function, and did worse on stability tests than those who had a better understanding of their risks.

The stoics, on the other hand, didn't think they had a high risk of falling--but, physiologically speaking, they probably should have been more concerned about their risk.

"Denial" might have been a better word than "stoic."

But denial isn't always a bad thing--because the study found that these seniors had a better quality of life, higher levels of strength, better stability, a lower risk of depression and fewer irrational fears than those who had a more accurate perception of their fall risk.

On the other hand, all that denial didn't stop these patients from falling when all was said and done--so maybe that stoicism should have been paired with just a touch of rational fear, or at least awareness.

The researchers say this study shows that docs shouldn't just consider their patients' risk of falling... but their perception of that risk. After all, seniors who fall for any reason have a higher risk of hospitalization, institutionalization and even death.

So it turns out Franklin D. Roosevelt had it exactly right –-because fear itself is, in fact, something to fear.

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