
Do you get joy out of volunteering, helping out with your grandkids, or learning new skills in that class you’ve been taking?
If you said yes, it could help you live longer. As it turns out, being inspired by things in your life doesn’t just help your emotional well-being — it may keep you healthier.
A 2019 JAMA Network Open study found that among a group of nearly 7,000 adults over age 50, those who scored highest on a scale that measured “life purpose” were less likely to die during the four-year study period. They were also less likely to die during the same period from heart, circulatory, or blood conditions, compared with those who scored lower.
“There have been a number of studies suggesting that a higher sense of purpose in life is associated with reduced risk of early death,” says Eric S. Kim, Ph.D., a research scientist in the department of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “However, this study showed for the first time that sense of purpose in life is associated with specific causes of death, and that’s an interesting advancement of knowledge.”
Defining a purposeful life

- family and relationships
- community
- helping others
- learning new skills
- taking part in leisure activities or hobbies.
In this study, having more life purpose was associated with a lower rate of death during the study period overall, from cardiovascular disease and blood conditions, and also from digestive conditions.
However, stronger life purpose didn’t appear to insulate study participants from all health conditions. Researchers did not find an effect on death rates from cancer, tumors, or conditions that affected the respiratory tract. It’s also important to note that the study didn’t prove that having a life purpose resulted in the lower death rates seen in the study.
“This was a well-done observational study. But there are limitations from studies with this kind of design, as they can’t pinpoint causality,” says Kim.
How does life purpose keep you healthy?

These include the following:
- It makes you more likely to protect your health. For example, you might eat healthier, sleep better, exercise more, or increase your use of preventive health services.
- It could reduce stress. “There’s some evidence from lab studies and studies that track people over time that suggests that people with a higher sense of purpose in life are less perturbed by various stressors, and also recover more quickly when they are more stressed out,” says Kim.
- It could reduce inflammation. Researchers have linked inflammation in the body to cardiovascular disease and other health conditions. Stress is known to prompt inflammation in the body, so reducing stress might help to reduce inflammation.
Lacking purpose? Strategies to help
If you feel like you are lacking purpose, seeking out new opportunities may help. Look for activities and roles that will provide a compelling reason to get up every morning. Some research has found that volunteering is a valuable option for many people.But if you’re feeling stuck, don’t be afraid to reach out for help.
“There’s some evidence to suggest that specialized cognitive behavioral therapy can improve a sense of purpose in life, as well as meaning in life, which is a conceptually close cousin,” says Kim.
Source: Harvard Health Blog.
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