A higher education leads to greater functional health in later years.
A study from the Journal of Health and Social Behavior from last month shows that those people with a college degree, rather than merely a high school diploma have better management of health problems once they show up.
The researchers show that people from all educational levels tend to get the same amount of diseases, but those with higher education have the resources or know-how to manage the disease better.
Not surprisingly, those with higher education have a better chance of maintaining good health than those with the same disease on an incident by incident basis.
When the researchers adjusted for income, they found that level of education independently determined a person’s likelihood of becoming ill or disabled. People who hadn’t finished high school were twice as likely as college graduates to develop functional limitations, while high school graduates who hadn’t finished college were at 61 percent greater risk of becoming disabled than their college-educated peers. There was a similar relationship between the risk of becoming chronically ill and educational attainment.
Todd Lloyd, DC
St. George Chiropractor
People with higher education can afford better health care, including alternative therapies not covered by insurance companies. It is no wonder they are healthier.