A life with purpose lasts longer, researchers find

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Study

A life with purpose lasts longer, researchers find

 

Older adults who are goal directed and have an overall sense that

life is meaningful are less likely to die sooner, a U.S. study says

 

Carla Wintersgill

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail,

Thursday, Jun. 18, 2009 03:48AM EDT

 

The secret to a long life may be to have a higher purpose, according

to a new study.

 

Researchers at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found

that older adults who have a purpose in life – those who are goal

directed and have an overall sense that life is meaningful – have a

reduced risk of dying earlier.

 

Patricia Boyle, a neuropsychologist at the Rush Alzheimer's disease

centre, and her team surveyed 1,238 community-dwelling participants

in the Chicago area, ranging in age from 55 to the upper 90s. During

an up to six-year follow-up period, they discovered that a person

with a high sense of meaning and motivation was about half as likely

to die compared with a person without a purpose.

 

" We are optimistic that there are positive lifestyle and

psychological things that people can do to increase their likelihood

of living longer, " Dr. Boyle says.

 

" You can help people to find ways to put meaning in their lives, to

set goals that have personal relevance to them. "

 

Participants who agreed with the following statements from the

study's survey were likely to die sooner: " I sometimes feel as if

I've done all there is to do in life " ; " I used to set goals for

myself, but now that seems like a waste of time " ; and " My daily

activities often seem trivial and unimportant to me. "

 

The results of the study, published in the June 15 issue of

Psychosomatic Medicine, were the same for both men and women. During

the six-year period, 151 participants died.

 

www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/a-life-with-purpose-lasts-longer-

researchers-find/article1184477/