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Staying
Younger Through Lifelong Learning
 Something you
probably never learned in school is that education level and lifelong
learning may actually make you younger. People who are better
educated tend to stay younger longer. In fact, those who don’t have a
high school education are 30% more likely to die prematurely than
those who are high school graduates. Mortality rates are even lower
for individuals with some college education or higher.
Although there
doesn’t appear to be any cause and effect relationship between what
you studied and your health (calculus will not lower your LDL
cholesterol) statistics have found that education has an affect on an
individual’s life trajectory. Some of these reasons may be purely
economic because individuals with more education are more likely to
have better paying jobs and better financial stability. Also, they
often have higher socioeconomic standing, better access to health
care, less exposure to occupational risks and have various other
benefits that may actually effect the rate of aging.
In contrast,
individuals with lower levels of education are often poorer, have
riskier and more tedious jobs, live in areas of higher pollution, and
tend to make less healthy lifestyle choices. People who do not have a
high school education are eight times more likely to smoke and are
also more likely to be overweight, avoid exercise and eat unhealthy
foods. Researchers use educational levels to gauge the entire social
world of individuals, because various opportunities and limitations,
as well as social and health behaviors correlate so highly with
education.
The effect of
education on our health and aging is enormously complex, and we will
probably never totally untangle the web. One of the problems is that
the data are too imprecise. Although studies try to adjust for
confounding variables such as income, social class and social stress,
higher education still seems to produce an aging benefit. Most of us
know people who have a high level of education and don’t make a lot of
money. Some of these people have doctorates in theology and other
areas that are really not commensurate in terms of income and
education. These people tend to stay younger longer, possibly because
they truly love what they do.
What is really
behind this correlation between education and health no one really
seems to know for sure. One theory is that education actually
increases access to information, with part of the information being
information related to health. People who read more are much more
likely to pay attention to news, to think about their health, to
exercise, eat right and avoid habits that cause needless aging.
Next, we’ll look
at how education actually helps the brain to stay younger.
Information adapted from
The Real Age Makeover
Additional Information and
webpage by Paul Susic MA Licensed
Psychologist Ph.D. Candidate
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