Attaining Higher Levels Of Education Can Lengthen Your Lifespan

Furthering your education can actually be good for your health. A recent study in Slovenia showed that starting a child's education early and engaging in a lifelong pursuit of knowledge can considerably lengthen a person's lifespan.

In a study published in the International Journal of Innovation and Learning, Anica Novak of Slovenia's Association for Education and Sustainable Development reported that education has played a huge role in increasing people's life expectancy at birth in the last 60 years. Life expectancy at birth indicates a person's projected lifespan if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of birth stays the same.

Unsung Hero

After studying population data of 187 countries from 1950 to 2010, Novak and her colleagues found that people's life expectancy at birth jumped from 47 years to 68 years, an increase of almost 30 percent. Obvious factors such as improved food, water, medicine and lifestyle have all contributed to longer lifespans, but the unsung hero was education.

"A higher education level among young women positively affects their reproductive health and their status in a family, community and society," Novak told Medical Xpress. "More educated women are less likely to get infected with HIV which further increases life expectancy at birth."

Rippling Effect

People with higher educational attainments are more likely to learn about healthy behaviors. They are also more likely to understand their health needs and follow the doctor's orders.

Schools And Health noted that education is a primary contributor in the fight against vector-borne diseases, diarrheal diseases and poor sanitation-related diseases. Additionally, education has shown to decrease cases of malaria trachoma and schistosomiasis in developing countries.

Highly-educated individuals also tend to have higher incomes. They are often spared from the harming effects of anxiety and stress brought about by social and economic adversity.

Contrastingly, people with lower educational background are more likely to reside in low-income neighborhoods that lack the resources for good and stable health. These neighborhoods are usually marginalized both economically and racially. Individuals living in these areas are at greater risk for poor health and have fewer resources to buffer the harming effects of stress, as per Society Health.