Feeling younger than your age turns out to be good for you.
A new study has shown that compared with people who feel their age or older than their years, those who feel younger live longer.
The research letter, authored by Isla Rippon, M.Sc. and Andrew Steptoe, D.Sc. of the University College London and published online by the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, aimed to examine the relationship between self-perceived age and mortality.
According to the results of the study, people who feel a year or more older than they truly are could face a greater risk of death by as much as 41 per cent. On the other hand, those who feel three or more years younger enjoy a lower death rate.
The JAMA Internal Medicine release reports that the researchers studied 6,489 individuals with an average chronological age of 65.8 years. According to the Telegraph, the researchers followed their subjects "for eight years monitoring their happiness levels and health."
Asked how old they felt, most of the subjects replied that they did not feel like their actual age. In fact, only 4.8 per cent reported feeling a year older than they really are.
The researchers found out that over the next 99 months, only 14.3 percent of those who felt younger than their age had died, whereas 24.6 per cent of those who felt older had passed away. Of those who felt their actual age, the mortality rate was 18.5 per cent.
The study however clarified, "The relationship between self-perceived age and cardiovascular death was strong but there was no association between self-perceived age and cancer death."
Speculating on what might have made the difference between the three groups, the researchers wrote, "Possibilities include a broader set of health behaviours than we measured (such as maintaining a healthy weight and adherence to medical advice), and greater resilience, sense of mastery and will to live among those who feel younger than their age."
For those who feel older than they are, the study says it is not yet too late.
"Self-perceived age has the potential to change, so interventions may be possible. Individuals who feel older than their actual age could be targeted with health messages promoting positive health behaviors and attitudes toward ageing," the research concluded.
