Getting More Education Can Help You Live Longer

Eating healthier foods, getting more sleep, and reducing stress can all help you live longer. But researchers reporting in the Lancet Public Health say that there’s another healthy habit that we shouldn’t forget: getting an education. Analyzing data from hundreds of studies of people in 59 countries, the scientists studied the relationship between how many years of education people received and mortality. They found that people with more schooling tended to die later than those who had less. Every additional year of education reduced mortality by 2%. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] That translates to a 34% lower risk of dying early for people who complete high school and college—about 18 total years of schooling—compared to those who don’t. That’s about as protective against early death as eating the recommended daily amounts of vegetables. Conversely, having very little schooling increases mortality as much as drinking five or more drinks a day or smoking 10 cigarettes a day for 10 years, says Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou, professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine and co-author of the study. “The impact of education does seem to be comparable to some of the bigger health factors like diet, smoking and excessive drinking.” And the more years spent in school, the better. Gakidou was surprised to see that the benefit of each year of education d...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news