Fountain of Youth -longevity found in college
Truth sometimes is stranger than fiction. Here is another wacky college statistic.
Believe it or not, a recent survey showed Americans with a college education can expect to live 7 years longer than those who only finish high school. Of course, the study was done by Harvard University, so there may be some bias there. On the other hand, Harvard doesn’t exactly hurt for people wanting to go there, so who knows?
Anyway, the life expectancy for those with a higher education is 82 years old, versus 75 years old for those with 12 or fewer years of schooling. The researchers said a major cause of disparity is tobacco use (which is funny, ‘cause I always thought those crazy college kids would smoke anything. Just kidding!) Less-educated Americans are far more likely to smoke, so they’re more likely to die from related diseases like lung cancer and emphysema, the study showed.
Could this be the magical Fountain of Youth, the fruit of the Tree of Life?
I was watching PBS a while back and the segment interviewed a handful of people who where 100+ years old. The youngest was 104 or 105. Besides diet, the common element found was these centurions all kept their minds active by learning new things. One man studied and learned the Korean language at age 70+ and later address a Korean organization in their native language. Another learned a musical instrument in her late 60’s and now at 107 has been playing for 4 decades also teaches younger students.
By educating its citizens, the United States of America has grown to be the world power that it is. Being uneducated and ignorant will cause any society to slide backwards.
How many books do you think the average high school graduate reads on an annual basis? ZERO, nil nada nothing. You probably all heard that your brain is like a muscle and you need to exercise it, right? Read, learn, discover, grow. Instill in your children the desire to learn and continue to grow so they will continue to learn and educate themselves well after college. Who knows, maybe they will live to be 121.
