Having a purpose prolongs your life

A study performed on 7,000 American reveals that having a purpose in life may gain some extra years of living, no matter what that purpose is.

The reason for this is that purposeful people tend to take better care of their physical and mental health and, thus, will age better.

The study followed 7,000 people with ages ranging from 25 to 75 years of age over a time span of 14 years.

Their purpose in life was based upon 3 statement with which the subjects had to agree or disagree:

1. Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them

2. I live life one day at a time and don't really think about the future

3. I sometimes feel as I've done all there is to do in life.

After 14 years, when researchers caught up with their subjects, they found out that people with purpose had outlived their counterparts.

'There is clearly a benefit from feeling a sense of direction or feeling you have these goals directing your day-to-day life,' said psychologist Dr. Patrick Hill.