Study: People Who Feel Younger Live Longer

How old you feel may determine how long you live, say British researchers in a new study.

“Perception of health, I think, has a strong correlation with healthy behaviors,” saidJoseph Conigliaro, MD, chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine for North-Shore LIJ.

“If one feels younger than their age, then one tends to behave that way. They tend to be more active, eat better and be more future oriented,” he said. “There is also observational evidence that a positive attitude is correlated with the ability to adapt to change, which would probably influence longevity.”

For the study, researchers asked some 6,500 adults (average of 65) how old they felt. Their responses were put in three groups: close to chronological age (2 years younger to 1 year older); older than chronological age (2 or more years older than real age); and younger than chronological age (3 or more years younger than real age).

The researchers followed up with study participants for eight years and found about 14.3 percent of those who felt younger than their years had died. Death rates for those who felt about their age were 18.5 percent and 24.6 percent for those who reported feeling older.

The study was published on Dec. 15 in JAMA Internal Medicine online.