A Higher Education Might Lead To A Higher Life Expectancy

A recent study points out that a higher education might lead to a higher life expectancy. Therefore, it is crucial that the young generation stays in school.

The correlation between people’s level of education and their life expectancy has been largely debated over the last few years. It is a connection that makes perfect sense from a variety of standpoints, but that hasn’t actually had significant data to back it up.

Well, some eager researchers from University of Colorado Denver, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and New York University have joined forces to look into the matter and see if the data can support this greatly anticipated hypothesis.

They based their study on data supplied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The National Health Interview Survey conducted by the organization supplied enough data for the scientists to be able to elaborate their conclusions. They had extensive information about the American people from 1986 all to the way to 2006, but the researchers wanted to go even further.

They also included data from 1925, 1935 and 1945, so as to get a better understanding of the progression that the many factors around these matters have suffered along the years. Therefore, the impressive amount of data makes conveys their study significant reliability.

The team of researchers concluded that evidence points out that there truly is a very strong connection between the level of education and life expectancy. If you think about it, it actually is a cause and effect relationship, in spite of the long intricate process that enables a person’s level of education to affect his or her life expectancy.

Their most shocking conclusion is that 145,243 people just might have been able to save their lives by taking the SATs, getting a GED or some sort of high school degree. Also, an additional 110,068 deaths might have been prevented if the people would have gotten a bachelor degree or some sort of college education.

These conclusions might seem farfetched, but a degree can actually improve a great many aspects of a person’s life and ultimately affect the person’s life expectancy. A degree could open very many doors that otherwise remain shut. The most important aspect that could be improved by getting a degree is the prospect of finding a better paid job.

In spite of the great struggle that highly educated people are facing with tangible job prospects nowadays, the lack of a degree lowers the chances of getting a comfortable job even more.

Therefore, all the benefits that come with a well paid job, that include medical insurance policies, better diets and above all, less life threatening stress rates, finally do add up and make for a better chance at a longer life span. High-end jobs do come with an immense stress rate, but nothing actually compares to the stress of not having a home and enough money to supply food for the family.

Aside from the material aspects of the matter, there are objective facts associated with people who stay in school that enable them to have a higher life expectancy. People who stay in school have quite a lot of their time occupied with actually going to school, however much they might skip it, and studying for exams. This actively prevents them from putting themselves into at least some high risk situations, for at least some of the time.

Also, a consistent education does provide people with a better judgement of things, primarily because they can make better informed decision. Despite the fact that that this is not strictly related to getting an actual degree, it is very closely tied to people’s culture and self-education level.

“The bottom line is paying attention to education has the potential to substantively reduce mortality.”, said NYU’s Virginia Chang. “Unless these trends change, the mortality attributable to low education will continue to increase in the future.”, added Patrick Krueger of Colorado University.

The most noteworthy facet of this study is that the implementation of programs that enable American citizens to stay in school are of the utmost importance, as they could greatly affect a great many aspects of people’s lives, that have the potential of providing them with a better chance at a higher life expectancy.
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