Live Longer and Healthier on Purpose

Living a life with a strong sense of purpose can add years to your life and life to your years. That was the uplifting conclusion from a new review study that included 10 formerly published studies looking at health outcomes in the context of life purpose. Relative to those with a low sense of purpose, study subjects with a strong sense of purpose were more than 20% less likely to die of any cause and 19% less likely to have a heart attack or stroke. Purpose in life is characterized as having a sense of meaning and direction in one’s life. It is knowing that your life and your actions have true intentions that somehow positively contribute to other individuals and or to society. In the world of wellness, there is a growing scientific consensus that what lies at the bedrock of our motivation to make healthy choices vs. unhealthy ones is maintaining a robust sense of life purpose. In fact, for anyone embarking on healthy behavior change, my very first piece of advice would be to start by writing down the list of things that make your life worth living. Then commit to healthy living for what is on that all-powerful list! (American Heart Association Meeting, Baltimore Maryland, 2015)