Nature seems to love brainy kids—the reward for them acing IQ tests appears to be a longer life! Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland used data from one of the longest-ever longitudinal studies, the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947, and found that higher scores on childhood IQ tests directly correlate with a longer lifespan. They studied a group of 33,536 men and 32,229 women born in 1936 who had taken childhood IQ tests. They compared the results with the records of death in the group over the next 68 years. The long-term study showed that those who exhibited higher childhood intelligence had a lower chance of dying before 80 years of age, and a 24-per-cent lower risk of dying from stroke; 25-per-cent lower risk of coronary artery disease; and 28-per-cent lower risk of dying from respiratory disease. The study was published in The BMJ.

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Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
September 2017