health and safety: AGING WITH A PURPOSE

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

AGING WITH A PURPOSE

A goal in life will help you live longer

Having a goal in life, which may be as small as reading a series of books, helps people live longer, say researchers.
    "It can be anything —from wanting to accomplish a goal in life, to achieving something in a volunteer organization, to as little as reading a series of books," said study author Patricia Boyle, a neuropsychologist at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center and professor of behavioral sciences at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, reports Health Day News.
    "We found that people who reported a greater level of purpose in life were substantially less likely to die over the follow-up period — only about half as likely to die over the follow-up period — as compared to people with a lower level of purpose," Boyle said. The follow-up period averaged nearly three years.
    Boyle and her colleagues studied 1,238 older adults already participating in two ongoing research studies at Rush, the Rush Memory and Aging Project and the Minority Aging Research Study. The participants were all dementia-free when the study began and averaged 78 years old. At the start of the study, the participants answered questions about their purpose in life.
    Boyle found that those with a higher sense of purpose had about half the risk of dying during the follow-up period as did those with a lower sense of purpose.
    And that was true, she said, even after controlling for such factors as depressive symptoms, chronic medical conditions and disability.
    What's the link? Boyle can't say for sure. But it could be that having a greater sense of purpose helps multiple systems of the body function better, conferring protection in the face of illness. AGENCIES