Education is Necessary for Health with Longevity

Each year of additional education increases the life expectancy at the age of 35 by one and a half years". "Mortality among people with secondary education is 54% higher than among people with higher education." "After reaching the age of 25 years, people who have completed higher education, life expectancy is seven years higher than those with a secondary education." These are some of the conclusions reached by the authors of recent studies on the impact of education on human life.

Many researchers, representing different fields of activity and different countries, analyzed the influence of the level of education and came to the conclusion and close connection between education and health. Adriana Lleras-Muney, professor of economics at the University of California, has researched the relationship between people's health and their educational level in the US and other countries of the American continent. Based on the studies, she came to the conclusion that "people with a higher level of education behave differently: they smoke less, use alcohol in moderate amounts, have weight approaching the ideal etc. Do you know about the symptoms of diabetes?

And this is observed not only on one side of the Atlantic. A few years ago, scientists from the Institute of Granada published a report with a view to redistributing medical services, which indicated that people with a lower educational level are less likely to visit doctors. 

Why? How does the duration of training affect life expectancy? Laura Carstensen, director of the Standford Center for the Study of Longevity, said that people with higher levels of education receive higher-paying jobs that require less physical exertion and are more enjoyable. They live in safer areas, lead a healthier lifestyle and are less prone to stress.

Javier Salinas, head of the Department of Economics and Finance at the Autonomous University of Madrid, who explored the relationship between education and individual well-being, explains that human capital theory views education as an investment in personal wealth, as it increases the chances of the labor market, place, get promotion and salary increase. It also reduces the time to perform routine tasks and expands participation in making important decisions, having a positive impact on health.

From an entirely different point of view, Manuel Martín Loeches, head of the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience at the UCM-ISC3 Center for the Study of Human Evolution and Behavior, is considering the issue. He argues that in our civilization, people with education manage to achieve positive social and biological changes, because education provides more opportunities for solving life problems, better employment, higher incomes and better social status. Now there is lots of online resources for distance education or getting notes and guess papers for different classes like PK Planet Educational Source. "All this is very important, because we are very social creatures, and if you have a good position in the group, then you will find yourself a better couple with good health, and this in turn will give abundant and healthy offspring."

Adriana Lieras-Mouney believes that people with a higher educational level also have greater access to information and, as a result, are the first to learn about scientific innovations and medical recommendations. "They were the first to learn about the dangers of tobacco, as well as how important it is to fasten the seat belt in the car. In addition, they perceive information more quickly, they are easier to understand new trends and change their behavior, because they want to maintain their health and continue to enjoy the joys of life (active leisure, relationships with others, etc.), which, in their opinion , they are worth it, "the researcher continues.

However, all these economic and social arguments that, thanks to education, we live longer and better, seem to lose credibility in the light of the study of longevity, conducted by neurologist David Snowdon (David Snowdon) among a group of nuns. All of them entered the monastery at the age of about 20 years and until the end of their days they lived on the same means, in the same situation, with the same diet, the same daily duties, they used the same medicines. Snowdon noted that the nuns, who had a higher educational level when entering the monastery (the researcher made up his idea of ​​this by knowing the grammar, spelling, the complexity of the phrases that they used to write autobiographies when they took tonsure), lived better,

One explanation for the data given is that people with higher education support the brain in a constant activity, update their neurons and more easily tolerate the aging process. However, there are also those who explain this by the process of natural selection: not education changes people, making them healthier and extending their lives, and those who are born more intelligent and healthy, eventually receive a better education. So what was it all about at the beginning: an egg or a chicken?

Whatever the root cause, everyone recognizes the existence of an obvious link between the level of education, material well-being, the level of mortality and the state of human health. According to many researchers, this is the direct link between the level of education and satisfaction - physical and mental, which is expressed by the formula "the higher the education, the more happiness". Some explain the biological reactions of the body: when a person learns, he enjoys, because the very process of learning stimulates the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that evokes a sense of pleasure and activates neurons, which in turn has a positive effect on the mental state. Some associate education with happiness, stating that learning is always a challenge, and overcoming difficulties is an incentive. So parents should must concentrate on the education of their children.