Having a life purpose improves your health

by Pauline Bunay

People who have a life purpose can improve their health and live longer according to a study made by JAMA network (Journal of the American Medical Association) in 2019. It found having a life purpose can improve your health and reduces the risk of early death. It can also drive healthy behavior and make a person more resilient to stress. 
 
Some Windsor residents agree, having a life purpose has affected their lives in a good way. Phoenix Shild is a social work student from University of Windsor who has a life purpose.

 
“To educate, support communities and people around me,” said Shild. “Makes me feel much more connected and content, happy, that I’m not alone or kind of living by myself.” 
 
According to the department of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a higher sense of purpose in life is associated with reduced risk of early death increasing people’s longevity.  
 
Lavanya Anagaraju is a cyber security student from India who hopes to help women with cyber-crimes. She says her life purpose has affected her life in a positive way.
 
“It keeps me focused and makes me want to go in the direction which I want to rather than getting distracted and just enjoying life,” Anagaraju said “I know we should enjoy life but is better to be focused on the life purpose than getting distracted and enjoying too much in life”  
 
Anagaraju also mentioned her life would be very different without her purpose. 
 
“It would be boring I say, being a woman myself, I just don’t want to be confined to one thing… it would be very boring and basic,” said Anagaraju. “Dream big probably, dream big and be good, have a new life purpose.”  
 
On the other hand, Shild believes life purpose is an ongoing aspect of life.
 
“I don’t think it’s something I really feel it is accomplished,” said Shild. “There’s always going to be more opportunity to educate in different ways and keep expanding the ways in which I’m capable of educating, the more I educate myself too.” 
 
According to www.wrike.com, the enterprise and blogs platform, setting up long-term purposes makes you gain more control and confidence in your decision-making. It is also better or more recommendable than having short-term goals. 
 
Setting short team goals which eventually lead you to a long term one, taking you a very long time to achieve might be another way of setting up a life purpose according to the number one people development platform speexx.com, long-term goals provide a clear direction for your life, help you focus on what matters and gives you a sense of purpose and direction.