To live longer, go back to school: study

If you have been contemplating going back to school to get a degree, this might convince you: a study by the Harvard School of Medicine has shown that people with a better education tend to live

longer.

"Between the 1980s and 2000, life expectancy increases occurred nearly exclusively among high-education groups," the study said, giving some striking and convincing figures.

"Comparing 1981-88 with 1991-98, life expectancy at age 25 grew 1.4 years for high-education people but only 0.5 years for low-education people," the study was quoted by AFP as saying.

"Between 1990 and 2000, life expectancy grew 1.6 years for the high-education group but remained unchanged for the low-education group," it said.

The difference in longevity means you would have enough time to complete a bachelor's, master's and doctorate degree, the study showed.

"In 2000, life expectancy for a 25-year-old with a high school diploma or less was 50 years (to 75 years of age). For a person with some college, life expectancy was nearly 57 years," the study showed.