Good marriage more value than exercise, says Harvard expert
A joyful marriage, not smoking or abusing alcohol, and a university education are more important contributors to living longer and more happily than exercise, watching the waistline, and good genes.
These are the good living recommendations from a professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, George Vaillant, an expert on ageing who has followed the lives of more than 800 people over 60 years and who is himself happy to debunk some widely accepted notions on healthy living.
“Exercise and watching your weight is nowhere as important as people think it is. People are also surprised to hear that working on your marriage is terribly more important than working on your waistline.”
Professor Vaillant said that people with a university education were more health- conscious and less likely to smoke and abuse alcohol. Allied with a good marriage these were much more important factors in building a life of mental and physical wellbeing.
