The research states:
"This association between a low level of purpose in life and death remained true despite how rich or poor participants were, and regardless of gender, race, or education level. The researchers also found the association to be so powerful that having a life purpose appeared to be more important for decreasing risk of death than drinking, smoking or exercising regularly."
It depends on the purpose. Some purposes require dangerous high-risk endeavors.
Joseph Tham
I do believe so . It is my assumption that because, life without aim fully target less leads to rusty , boring, distressing and disgusting sometimes headache of the society which final outcomes are psychological imbalance (may be ). After that , self-actualization( from Maslow's theory of motivation) loss and totally unfit the situations.
Thanks
The stement is true. People are known to commit suicides or give up the will to live due to a lack of purpose. Having a purpose motivates someone to move forward and not be stagnant.
Purring the goal of life self-centered and too ambitious you can forget to live healthily.
in general, the people who are satisfied with their work and their sects are more fortunate and therefore smiling and healthy.
Yes of course. This becomes apparent if we recognize that our brain is the main organ in our body. It is he who organizes the work of all other organs of the body. In people who have a purpose in life, the brain is better mobilized for quality work in relation to other organs of the body, which reduces the risk of failure of their work, and hence the risk of premature death. A good brain as if strives to ensure that the goal is certainly achieved. And for this it is necessary, at least, to ensure the normal functioning of the whole organism. It was in order that a person could not achieve the goal set before him, which was undesirable for the authorities, the guillotine was invented.
Dear all,
I think there is a correlation and a purpose in life is helpful to stay healthy and grow older...
But there are no guarantees, be assured of that!
Heads up and lets go on with our lifes :)
Learning Math from a young age and using it constantly makes the onset of AD and dementia delayed (I am told)
Remember the fairy tale of the princess, hidden in the impregnable tower to protect her from being pricked with something sharp but nothing can save her and a spindle appears! From the fate one never can escape.
In my opinion, the Russian proverb is correct, when says: "Who does not smoke and does not drink, he will die healthy." I saw the example of my grandfather, who served in the Horse Guards and fought under the command of General Samsonov in August 1914 (To my questions about the Samsonov, he replied: "That the general ... swore strongly that we together with rotmeister Psheshinsky are always drunk ..." ), in Soviet time sat in prison for 25 years, as a nobleman and an enemy of Soviet power, he drinked and smoked his whole adult life, but he died in age of 91 years old. I saw him a week before his death, when he was walking down the street (he lived in my aunt’s family) and told me: “Hi, Vadik, it’s really bad, I cannot drink half a liter of vodka”. A month before his death, I showed my future wife to my family and he said such compliments to her, that she still reproaches me that I did not remember these one... At the same time, I know adherents of a "healthy lifestyle" who were buried by their parents.
Having purpose motivates you to better take care of yourself and may help you have a healthier and longer life.
Agnieszka Will geb. Gronek
National Public Radio (NPR) in U.S.
May 25, 2019
Mara Gordon
What’s your purpose? Finding a sense of meaning in life is linked to health.
In your country, suppose you submit proposals for research funding in the following areas for 10 million dollars.
Research One: Reduce people’s smoking
Research Two: Reduce alcohol abuse
Research Three: Increase people’s motivation to exercise
Research Four: Encourage people to have a purpose in life.
What are the chances for getting funding for research four? Please be as honest as you can.
It depends on the purpose. Some purposes require dangerous high-risk endeavors.
Positive with mind,and thinking always helps,keeping faith in GOD and continuing life facing all challanges with full confidance
Do you think that if a goal is risky, climbers are at risk in the mountains, then the goal does not have the right to exist?
In iraq it is absolutely different ,causes of death Surround you from all sides even when you are optimistic
If your purpose in life is: grab, prevaricate, dismantle (sorry) I don't believe life expectancy can grow.
If your purpose in life is to try to improve yourself and improve the existence of others, maybe you live more and more happily.
No need to bother Searching to understand this.
Not at all for me, rather I believe a purposeful life which is truthful and rational can lead a peaceful long life.
But still, I think that there is an overall positive correlation of both items: meaning of life and longlivity...
But as I underlined above - there are no guarantees, be sure about that...
Living life with a positive attitude and noble purpose can increase your satisfaction, happiness and mental peace thereby enhancing the chances of healthy long life.
People who didn't have a strong life purpose were more likely to die than those who did, and specifically more likely to die of cardiovascular diseases.
Currently there are many techniques focused on discovering the vital purpose, that is, what it is and how to identify what is so powerful that it makes us jump out of bed, whether we are exhausted and stressed or happy or bitter. The Japanese (who are the longest living) call it ikigai and, in addition, they assure that whoever finds it, lives longer and is much happier. However, the problem is that not all people know what their purpose in life is, and they do not even have the same purpose. What seems to be clear is that centenarians have three things in common: they are very optimistic, they have worked hard all their lives, and they have high resilience (they have efficiently overcome many adverse situations)
There is a powerful link between the mind and body; per se, mental health and physical health are intertwined in an incredible manner. Our thoughts and emotions create tangible changes to our bodies. Genuinely purposeful living hold a direct link with well-being, lower risk of disease, better sleep, healthier behaviors and a longer life.
From the national budget, would you support giving public funds to a program that “encourages people to have a purpose in life?” Would this be in the Health Ministry, Social Welfare Ministry, Education Ministry, or the Ministry for the Promotion of Happiness?
failed to see your logic Joseph, purpose is an inner state, independent od burocracy. if the spirit was a joke, yes we live in a time of expecting the problems to be solved by others...
To add to all answers I would suggest reading Kielhofners' "Conceptual foundations of occupational therapy practice" (2009) which emphasis the role of meaningful activity and purpose for QOL and longevity (the opposite of your question). One can find many papers such as Taylor & Francis, 1992' or a meta-analysis study such as Pinquarts' from 2002 which give a broad spectrum of positive connections between the two. As both an occupational therapist and a gerontologist I would say that once you lost your purpose in life, the closer you are to end it. Yet, it is merely by observation since I didn't look for an empirical answer.
Vera Maura Fernandes de Lima
Let me try and explain my logic.
Suppose you are the Minister of Finance in a country. Your objective is to spend the money as best as you can.
One of your objectives could be: life expectancy. What is the best way to improve the life expectancy in the country?
Suppose there are two existing programs.
Reduce smoking and drinking (Ministry of Health)
Nutrition programs (Ministry of Education.
Someone from the Ministry of Religion comes to you and says that there is solid empirical scientific evidence that “having a purpose in life” is superior in extending life expectancy, compared to the two existing programs. PLEASE reprogram $100 million dollars from those two Ministries to the Ministry of Religion.
How would you respond to this request from the Ministry of Religion?
Dearjoseph, i see your point. now clearly. I was looking from different perspective, a personal choice. i am not a believer in burocracy, i was born an anarchist
.
For me also statistics is the poor cousin in math, hate insurance companies.
Thanks for taking the trouble in answering,
Finland is about to increase the costs for tobacco, alcohol, suger and so on through increased taxes on things that are not good for you in the program the new government presents tomorrow monday June 3, 2019. The "meaning in life prophet" Viktor E. Frankl succeeded in hindering people from committing suicide in concentration camps through his existential analysis/logotherapy. He was a jew until his death according to my knowledge. Having a meaning in life does add to longevity. You do not have to mix in a certain religion.
s. Béatrice Marianne Ewalds-Kvist What is the popular opinion? Do the common citizens support the new taxes? Or did the Czar of Good Health and Happiness In Finland make the decision for the greater good of ALL the citizens?
My opinion is that we were so dissatisfied with the last government, so whatever the new one does, it has to be better than what the former one did. The health awareness among young people is also on
the rise so I suppose that the citizens are aware of the decreased risk of cancer and heart disorders thanks to these measures.
Thank you very much for asking. Led me to the article http://bit.ly/purpose-longevity
Working with schoolteachers over 55 who lost their jobs and searching for research to back up using "deep life design" to promote their skills as senior education professionals as well as promoting their wellbeing.
Every human being as a conscious being or Homo sapiens, if you wish, must have a purpose of its life. Otherwise, the humans without purpose of life are alike to animals. By the way, the animals (except turtles) do not live so long like humans. Living without the purpose of life is explained in, unfortunately, well known sentence "Live fast, dye young and be a nice corps". There are so many purposes of life. Some of them are good and some of them are wrong or even bad. If somebody chooses good purpose of his/hers life, such as; to be good to the others, i.e. to his/hers family and wider social environment, or to help those who are weak and woundable, than this is a good purpose of live and such person could be fulfilled with the joy of life. But if somebody choose only fame, money and power as a purpose of life, than he or she is very unhappy person, ready to overspread his/hers unhappiness to the others and making them also unhappy and frustrated. That kind of social behaviour causes a stress which definitely has a negative influence on human health and causes a many illness and consequently very certain early death.
Siniša Srečec I agree with your answer, and think that you are correct. Perhaps we need to refocus our activities from the traditional approaches to improving health and life expectancy.
Very recently Aliya Alimujiang et al reported at JAMA Network Open (doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.427) the results of a cohort study of 6985 adults older than 50 years and they found that life purpose was significantly associated with all-cause mortality (in the Health and Retirement study-HRS).
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