Growing old happy and healthy. It will be an important wish for most of us. But regular exercise and healthy eating is not enough to achieve that wish. In fact, people with good mental health are more likely to grow old healthy, and eating lots of cheese can help you do that, researchers discovered.
The link between happiness and health has been studied many times before, but establishing that a link actually exists is difficult. In fact, there are very many variables that play a role. Rich people, for example, get older and tend to be happy. But people who live a healthy lifestyle also age. In addition, your education and the neighborhood you grow up in also influence a happy and healthy life.
Link between mental health and aging
Yet Chinese researchers have now succeeded in demonstrating the link between mental health and aging, regardless of money, status or other variables. In the scientific journal Nature they write that it is important to improve your mental health. Those who are mentally fit can cope better with stress, which in turn is good for your physical health. Eating a piece of cheese with regularity can help you become mentally healthy, they say.
For the study, the scientists studied data from 2.3 million Europeans. That data now shows that people with good mental health generally aged healthier. They not only lived longer, but also experienced more resilience.
More cheese and fruit
Income has the greatest influence on our mental health, the study found. But education and occupation also played a role. In all, the researchers analyzed more than a hundred factors that could potentially have an effect on our happiness, yielding sometimes striking results. For example, it turned out that people felt better and aged healthier if they ate more cheese and fruit. So enjoying a cheese plate regularly is not such a bad idea at all.
Exactly how it is that our mental health has so much impact on our physical health is not yet entirely clear. According to the researchers, there are signs that aging processes in our bodies slow down when we are happy, which makes us less susceptible to disease. They therefore stress that improving mental and physical health should become standard parts of health policies.
