Why should I care about whether my life has purpose?
RESEARCH BRIEF
As I described in my Reflection last month, I (mostly) retired in June, something that feels both weird and delightful. With the change in my work status, some of my default life structure has shifted and with it, some of what drives my sense of purpose in life. I have the opportunity to recraft or refine what purpose looks like in this chapter of my life, which will take some degree of intention and effort. Beyond the very real satisfaction that I derive from believing that my life direction matters in some way, it makes sense to revisit why this investment is worth it.
Research question: How and in what ways does having a sense of purpose in life influence our health and well-being?
How researchers studied this question: The influence of purpose in life on health and well-being has primarily been studied in several large longitudinal studies of adulthood (Emory Healthy Aging Study, Midlife in the United States [MIDUS], Rush Memory and Aging Project, Nurse’ Health Study, Health and Retirement Study). Data are periodically collected on thousands of people as they age on things like self-reported purpose in life, cognitive and physical functioning, biomarkers, neuroimaging, and in some studies, brain autopsies.
Answer: Compared to those with a lower sense of purpose, people who report a high sense of purpose in life experience a number of health and well-being benefits including …
· Better cognition as they age; purpose in life seems to have a protective effect on our thinking ability (Boyle et al., 2010; Lewis et al., 2017; Wingo et al., 2020);
· Reduced risk for death from any cause (all-cause mortality) and cardiovascular events (Cohen et al., 2016);
· Better physical functioning and a reduced risk of disability as they age (Kim et al., 2017; Mota et al., 2016);
· More satisfaction with their lives across the life span (Bronk et al., 2009);
· Greater ability to weather daily stressors (Hill, Sin, Turiano, Burrow, & Almeida, 2018).
Scientists do not yet know the precise mechanism by which purpose in life yields these health benefits but have some hypotheses. People with high levels of purpose are open to health-related suggestions (Kang et al., 2019) and engage in healthy behaviors (Kim et al., 2014) more so than those with lower levels of purpose. It also appears that purpose in life seems to help regulate the physiological systems involved in stress (Zilioli et al., 2015) and inflammation (Friedman et al., 2007).
So What? Because of its profound association with health and well-being, purpose in life is now considered to be a modifiable health risk fact (Alimujiang et al., 2019). That’s nice to know but I I am invested in living with purpose simply because believing that I’ve got something to do here makes me happy, energizes my activities, and engages me in life. The other health benefits are a nice bonus.
How about you? What makes investing in purpose worth it for you?
Sources:
Alimujiang A, Wiensch A, Boss J, Fleischer NL, Mondul AM, McLean K, . . . Pearce CL (2019). Association Between Life Purpose and Mortality Among US Adults Older Than 50 Years. JAMA Netw Open, 2(5), e194270. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.4270
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31125099/
Boyle PA, Buchman AS, Barnes LL, & Bennett DA (2010). Effect of a purpose in life on risk of incident Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older persons. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 67(3), 304-310. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.208
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20194831/
Bronk KC, Hill PL, Lapsley DK, Talib TL, & Finch H (2009). Purpose, hope, and life satisfaction in three age groups. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(6), 500–510. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760903271439
Find the abstract here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17439760903271439
Cohen R, Bavishi C, Rozanski A (2016). Purpose in Life and Its Relationship to All-Cause Mortality and Cardiovascular Events: A Meta-Analysis. Psychosom Med, 78(2), 122-33. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000274. PMID: 26630073.
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26630073/
Friedman EM, Hayney M, Love GD, Singer BH, & Ryff CD (2007). Plasma interleukin-6 and soluble IL-6 receptors are associated with psychological well-being in aging women. Health Psychol, 26(3), 305-313. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.26.3.305
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17500617/
Hill PL, Sin NL, Turiano NA, Burrow AL, & Almeida DM (2018). Sense of purpose moderates the associations between daily stressors and daily well-being. Ann Behav Med, 52(8), 724-729. doi:10.1093/abm/kax039
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30010709/
Kang Y, Strecher VJ, Kim E, & Falk EB (2019). Purpose in life and conflict-related neural responses during health decision-making. Health Psychol, 38(6), 545-552. doi:10.1037/hea0000729
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31008647/
Kim ES, Kawachi I, Chen Y, Kubzansky LD. (2017). Association between purpose in life and objective measures of physical function in older adults. JAMA Psychiatry, 74(10), 1039-1045. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.2145.
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28813554/
Kim ES, Strecher VJ, Ryff CD (2014). Purpose in life and use of preventive health care services. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 11(46), 16331-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1414826111.
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25368165/
Lewis NA, Turiano NA, Payne BR, Hill PL (2017). Purpose in life and cognitive functioning in adulthood. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn, 24(6), 662-671. doi: 10.1080/13825585.2016.1251549.
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27819520/
Mota, NP, Tsai J, Kirwin PD, Sareen J, Southwick SM, & Pietrzak RH (2016). Purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk of incident physical disability in aging U.S. military veterans. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry, 24(9), 706-714. doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2016.03.004
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27160984/
Wingo AP, Wingo TS, Fan W, Bergquist S, Alonso A, Marcus M, Levey AI, Lah JJ (2020). Purpose in life is a robust protective factor of reported cognitive decline among late middle-aged adults: The Emory Healthy Aging Study. J Affect Disord, 263, 310-317. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.124.
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31969260/
Zilioli S, Slatcher RB, Ong AD, & Gruenewald TL (2015). Purpose in life predicts allostatic load ten years later. J Psychosom Res, 79(5), 451-457. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2015.09.013
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26526322/