In a recent study, the largest of its kind, it’s been discovered that going to school can help you live longer.
This research, published in The Lancet Public Health, has shed new light on the connection between education and longevity. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you live, or what your background is – education can save your life.
Before, experts knew that people with more schooling tended to live longer. But they weren’t sure just how much of a difference it made.
Now, they have found that for each extra year you spend in school, your chance of dying goes down by 2%. Let’s break this down: if you finish six years of primary school, your risk of dying decreases by about 13%.
After finishing secondary school, this risk reduces nearly to 25%. And if you manage to get 18 years of education under your belt, your risk drops by a significant 34%.
The study didn’t just look at schooling. It also compared education to other factors that affect our health, like diet, smoking, and heavy drinking. Surprisingly, they found that the benefits of education are similar to these other factors.
For instance, getting 18 years of education is almost as good for you as eating a healthy amount of vegetables every day. On the other hand, not going to school at all is almost as harmful as heavy drinking or smoking a lot.
Dr. Terje Andreas Eikemo, one of the researchers and head of the Centre for Global Health Inequalities Research, highlighted the importance of this discovery. He said that knowing just how much education can improve health is a big step forward.
One of the most interesting findings is that education helps you live longer, no matter how old you are. Even people over 50 or 70 years can benefit from the protective effects of education.
The study showed that just completing primary school can lower the risk of dying by 13.1%. This increases to 24.5% after finishing secondary school and 34.3% after 18 years of education. That’s almost 2% less risk for each year of school.
The researchers also found that the benefits of education are the same worldwide. It doesn’t matter if a country is rich or poor; more education means a longer life.
Mirza Balaj, another researcher, emphasized that we need to make education more accessible everywhere to reduce life-threatening inequalities.
He pointed out that education leads to better jobs, higher incomes, and better health care. It also helps people take care of their health and builds a network of social and psychological support.
Claire Henson, a co-author of the study, stressed the need to close the education gap to reduce the gap in mortality rates. Investing in education, she said, can improve health and prolong lives in all countries.
This study looked at data from 59 countries and over 10,000 data points from more than 600 published articles.
Most of the research came from wealthy countries, so there’s still a lot to learn about the effects of education in poorer parts of the world, especially in sub-Saharan and North Africa.
Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou, another co-author, pointed out the need for more research in areas where schooling is limited. By understanding more about how education affects health, we can help improve the lives of people around the world.
If you care about wellness, please read studies about how ultra-processed foods and red meat influence your longevity, and why seafood may boost healthy aging.
For more information about wellness, please see recent studies that olive oil may help you live longer, and vitamin D could help lower the risk of autoimmune diseases.
The research findings can be found in The Lancet Public Health.
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