A Reason to Live Was Linked to a Longer Life

In 1994, researchers asked more than 43,000 adults in northeastern Japan, ages 40 to 79, one question. 

“Do you have ikigai in your life?”

They published their findings in 2008.

Ikigai is the Japanese term for the people, pursuits and responsibilities that make life feel worth living.

The researchers followed the participants for seven years. After accounting for age, health, employment, stress, exercise, smoking, drinking and other factors, those who answered no had a 50 percent higher risk of dying during the study than those who said they had ikigai.

The difference was associated mainly with deaths from cardiovascular disease, particularly stroke, and from external causes. The study found no clear association with cancer deaths.

Cause and effect remain difficult to separate. People in better health or with stronger social ties may be more likely to feel that life has meaning. A sense of ikigai may also encourage the habits, relationships and daily engagement that help sustain health.

The intriguing possibility is that the ordinary things that make life worth living may also help sustain the life built around them.

Source: The Ohsaki Study, published in Psychosomatic Medicine in 2008.