Various methods are known to be effective, such as not eating out or exercising to live longer. However, new research shows that having a purpose in life is related to a person’s longevity.
The University of Michigan research team used the results of a survey of 7,000 subjects over 50 years old called The Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which began in 1992. In this survey, subjects evaluated how they felt about the sentences that they enjoyed making plans for the future and realizing their plans, and that their daily actions were trivial and not important. Through this, the research team scored the subject’s purpose in life. Of the subjects, 776 died during the investigation, and the research team compared the 5-year mortality rate after answering the above life objective scores.
According to this, it was found that those with a low life purpose score were twice as high as those with a high death rate during the survey. In addition, people with low scores often die due to heart and blood vessel problems. This result did not change even when factors thought to have an influence, such as whether the subject was depressed, were considered.
The research team found that having a purpose in life has more positive aspects than disadvantages. The team’s next task is to investigate whether interventions that improve people’s purpose in life make sense, whether it can increase their purpose in life, and whether it benefits health benefits.
Studies have shown that the key to happiness and health is when you feel that your life has meaning. For example, while inflammation is associated with premature death and disease, studies have shown that factors such as a sense of purpose for life can reduce the expression of genes that cause inflammation.
Meanwhile, this study has limitations, such as not excluding the possibility that life-threatening diseases have taken away the purpose of life. Related information can be found here .