A sense of purpose helps you live longer
Feeling useful and having a sense of purpose in life are clearly beneficial psychologically, but now research is revealing that there also physical benefits. No matter what your age, new research finds, having a sense of purpose helps you live longer. However, the earlier you find a sense of direction and purpose, the better. The findings come from a study of more than 6,000 people who were followed over 14 years (Hill & Turiano, 2014). The results showed that people who strongly agreed with statements like the following were less likely to die over the course of the study: [blue]“Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them.”[/blue] The researchers were surprised that these findings held, even for younger people. Lead researcher, Patrick Hill, said: [blue]“There are a lot of reasons to believe that being purposeful might help protect older adults more so than younger ones. For instance, adults might need a sense of direction...