HOME > HBNS > LIFESTYLE AND PREVENTION
Emotional and Physical Wellness Might Be Linked to Longer Life
Release Date: October 5, 2010 |
A new study supports a belief that many people assume is true: You are more likely to live longer if you have remained physically and mentally fit.
But there are complications. The research, which looked at an overwhelmingly white group of people, suggests that simply feeling positive about life will not boost your life span, while avoiding high stress could give you extra years. In addition, people get the best boost from being both physically fit and low on anxiety.
“Although further research is still needed, our results suggest that being fit and finding ways to reduce distress … are related to better health and longer lifespan,” said study lead author Francisco B. Ortega, a physiology researcher with the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the University of Granada in Spain.
Previous studies have linked physical fitness and well-being to longer life spans. In the new study, published online and in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers tried to better understand how both work together to affect life span.
The researchers looked at a U.S. study of 4,888 people first examined between 1988 and 1997 and then followed for an average of 15 years.
Of the participants, 98 percent were white and most were well educated and worked as executives or other professionals. The majority – 80 percent – were male, and ages ranged from 20 to 81.
The researchers adjusted their statistics that factors like body weight would not throw off the results.
The results “suggest that people with low levels of distress have a 34 percent lower risk of dying prematurely compared to those with higher levels of distress,” Ortega said. “Likewise, people with high levels of fitness have a 46 percent lower risk of death than those with a low fitness level.”
The researchers did not determine how many years earlier a person would die, on average, if he or she were not physically or mentally fit. Overall, 212 people – 4.3 percent – died during the study period.
The researchers could not find a link between high levels of positive feelings and longer life spans, but negative well-being definitely had a connection to shorter life spans. This is unusual, Ortega said, because other studies have shown that people live longer when they have a positive outlook.
The study results do not impress Felicia A. Huppert, director of the Well-being Institute at the University of Cambridge in the UK. “It does not add much because of the relatively small number of deaths and some other odd findings,” she said, For one thing, she said, the study findings are unusual because they suggest that age and gender did not affect the likelihood of death.
The study received funding support from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the Coca-Cola Company, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research and the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation
# # #
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Reach the Health Behavior News Service, part of the Center for Advancing Health, at (202) 387-2829 or hbns-editor@cfah.org.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine: Contact the editorial office at (858) 534-9340 or eAJPM@ucsd.edu.
Ortega F, et al. Psychological well-being, cardiorespiratory fitness, and long-term survival. Am J Prev Med 39(5), 2010.
Tags for this article:
Lifestyle and Prevention Aging Well
Comments on this article
Please note: CFAH reserves the right to moderate all comments posted to the Health Behavior News Service. Any inappropriate postings will be removed.
| glaxiagaige says March 31, 2013 at 6:43 AM Instead, since 2010, Congress has appropriated a subsidy to produce up for your difference between your fees received as well as the allocation for defaults. And today, the springing up in the online auto loan companies has revolutionized the loan processing and possesses helped to avail the car loans, as simple as you can [url=http://onlinepaydayloans-4u.co.uk]payday loans UK[/url] it could be for less money, over the shorter term or carry a higher rate of interest than requested. I look forward to the days ahead, every time they return, when I can invest having a extended period-horizon and never must churn the portfolio a great deal. This can be a find keyword for Vip Cash Loans Vip Cash Loans - Overnight Payday Loans payday loans UK when a forbearance was requested with a student claiming they couldn't make their student loan payments, we didn't just jump them into a forbearance. The present generation is often a smart and savvy lot, giving rise with an intelligent crop of young entrepreneurs. Understanding APRAPR may be the yearly rate with the loan, although payday advances are intended to get short term installment loans http://onlinepaydayloans-4u.co.uk 5 check against each other and earn a deal - driving by homes and walking through open houses is undoubtedly exciting -- it offers you an possibility to imagine yourself living inside the various spaces. |
| CetsFaphhet says May 6, 2013 at 7:06 PM The Dating Game - Women are unpredictable in order that helps to make the dating game unpredictable too. Are Credit Cards Replacing Bank Loans for Small Business Financing [url=http://paydayguavatime.co.uk/]payday loans[/url] these foundation accounts might be just the thing needed for those starting a small business but possess a challenge with passing credit rating checks off their financial institutions. This isn't to mention the issue in the legal protection from the researchers, and also the producers themselves. You may already remember that rates of interest for auto loans are higher when the borrower features a bad credit rating or low credit standing payday loan fast pre-approval - mortgage rates happen to be pretty steady recent months, but recently considering that the market being so volatile, money was moving from stocks to bonds. Loan History - When wanting to evaluate if you aren't to loan money in your adult child, it's a great idea to keep their history of loans planned. The new federal review and investigations should bring a finish to the double collecting or steering the colleges from receiving payments or payments in kind from your student loan lenders http://paydayguavatime.co.uk/ you need to give attention to quality over quantity, so place more emphasis about the way the provider handles leads instead of the amount of leads they generate. |
Add Your Comment
HEALTH BEHAVIOR NEWS
 |
|
 |
|
 |
