Purpose, Sleep and Walking Speed- A Holy Nexus.

Purpose, Sleep and Walking Speed- A Holy Nexus.

A sense of purpose in life is known to confer health benefits through multiple mechanisms which mainly relate to the mind.

However, two recent studies show that having a purpose or a project affects health through 2 important parameters that affect health.

One is better sleep. Yes, being on purpose through the day promotes better sleep at night. That was the result of a study reported in the July 9, 2017 issue of the peer reviewed journal ‘Sleep Science and Practice’ on about 800 people with an average age of 80 years and showed that having a purpose in life specifically results in fewer sleep disturbances and improved sleep quality and over a long period of time.

Having a life purpose also improves another factor that impacts our sleep, health and longevity.

It is our walking speed.

Do people with a sense of purpose walk faster? (Remember Gandhiji walking for the Dandi march!)

A recent article published online in the August 16, 2017 issue of JAMA Psychiatry (which is the stimulus for this write up) reports a study on 4486 persons with average age 63 years. It found that people with a sense of purpose in life (measured by Purpose of Life subscale of the Ryff Psychological Well-Being scales) have less diminution in their walking speed with aging as people low on life purpose.

This has important health connotation because walking speed is inversely related to frailty and directly proportional to good health and longevity. Also, better walking means better sleep, usually.

Of course there are other factors too, impacting sleep and walking speed

But having an exciting reason to get out of bed in the morning does put a pep into your step and depth into your sleep- two important factors impacting your health.