--- title: People Who Feel Younger Live Longer, Study Says description: Study: Those who feel three or more years younger than they are had lower death rates compared to people who felt their age or older canonical: https://time.com/3634042/study-finds-those-who-feel-younger-might-actually-live-longer/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-15T21:00:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:52:01.917Z article:section: Health og:title: People Who Feel Younger Live Longer, Study Says og:description: Study: Those who feel three or more years younger than they are had lower death rates compared to people who felt their age or older og:url: https://time.com/3634042/study-finds-those-who-feel-younger-might-actually-live-longer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a6af2f65552dfd1/69876ed9e20a877fbda8404f/old-feel-young.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5121 og:image:height: 2881 og:image:alt: Close-up of senior couple holding hands while sitting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Who Feel Younger Live Longer, Study Says twitter:description: Study: Those who feel three or more years younger than they are had lower death rates compared to people who felt their age or older twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a6af2f65552dfd1/69876ed9e20a877fbda8404f/old-feel-young.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Study Finds Those Who Feel Younger Might Actually Live Longer > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 15, 2014 9:00 PM UTC  Close-up of senior couple holding hands while sitting Close-up of senior couple holding hands while sitting Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 15, 2014 9:00 PM UTC People who feel three or more years younger than they actually are had lower death rates compared to people who felt their age or older, according to a recent study. Two University College London researchers studied data collected from 6,489 men and women whose average age was 65.8\. On average, people in the study, published in the journal _JAMA Internal Medicine_, felt closer to 56.8\. Among the participants, 69.6% said their self-perceived age was three or more years younger than their chronological age, 25.6% said they felt their age or close to it, and only 4.8% felt older than they actually were. When the researchers compared the self-perceived ages to death rates, they found that rates were lower among those who felt younger, compared to participants who felt their age or older. Of course unrelated factors like disabilities and overall health played a role, but when the researchers adjusted for those factors, they still noted a 41% greater mortality risk for the people who said they felt old. What’s driving this apparent phenomenon needs further assessment, but the authors suggested that people who feel younger may have greater resilience and will to live. “Self-perceived age has the potential to change, so interventions may be possible,” the authors write. “Individuals who feel older than their actual age could be targeted with health messages promoting positive health behaviors and attitudes toward aging,” the study concluded. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3634042/study-finds-those-who-feel-younger-might-actually-live-longer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3634042/study-finds-those-who-feel-younger-might-actually-live-longer/"},"headline":"Study Finds Those Who Feel Younger Might Actually Live Longer","datePublished":"2014-12-15T21:00:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:52:01.917Z","description":"A new study shows people who feel younger than their actual age live longer","url":"https://time.com/3634042/study-finds-those-who-feel-younger-might-actually-live-longer/","keywords":["Aging","Death","Life","Longevity","anti-aging"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a6af2f65552dfd1/69876ed9e20a877fbda8404f/old-feel-young.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a6af2f65552dfd1/69876ed9e20a877fbda8404f/old-feel-young.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Close-up of senior couple holding hands while sitting","caption":"Close-up of senior couple holding hands while sitting","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/aging/","name":"Aging"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3634042/study-finds-those-who-feel-younger-might-actually-live-longer/","name":"Study Finds Those Who Feel Younger Might Actually Live Longer"}}]}] ```