Enjoying life may be the key to living longer, study suggests
A new study from England found that simply enjoying life is the key to living longer.
A new study suggests that lengthening your lifespan is as easy as taking it easy and enjoying the view.
Researchers at University College London found a stark difference between those who enjoyed life and those who enjoyed it least.
The study looked at 10,000 people living in England for about a decade.
The participants were interviewed three times between 2002 and 2011 and their enjoyment of life was tested using various surveys, said BBC.
Those who recorded the most happiness lived throughout the entire study, while those who were least happy were most likely to die during the study.
Researchers found that about 20 percent of the people die during the study.
More from GlobalPost: Binge-drinking college kids happier than non-binge drinkers, study says
"What we found is that out of those people in the highest third of people with the most enjoyment, 9.9% died," said study author Andrew Steptoe, said PTI.
"Of people in the lowest third of enjoyment 28.8% of them died."
The researchers said that even when age is controlled for, the importance of happiness still stands.
Other studies have shown that lifespan is also lengthened through more social engagement.
BBC said that the report also said that about one in six people in England over 50 were socially isolated.
The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!