Younger Looking People Live for Longer

According to a new Danish study people who look ‘younger’ on average tend to live a long life, so if you’ve ever been told you look younger than your age or that you’ve got a baby face, perhaps now is the time to celebrate.

The study believes that simple appearance can go a long way to determining how long someone might live for. It was conducted with 387 pairs of twins. Participants were asked to look at the twins and guess their age from a photograph, and those who were rated as younger looking lived longer on average than the older looking siblings. All of the twins were already quite old themselves – in their 70s, 80s or 90s when photographed.

There is a scientific reasoning behind the study, however. It’s to do with telomeres, which are linked to how young a person will look. These pieces of DNA also indicate the ability of our cells to replicate, so shorter length telemores mean you’ll age faster and they have even be linked with a number of diseases.

The researched told the British Medical Journal: “Perceived age, which is widely used by clinicians as a general indication of a patient’s health, is a robust biomarker of ageing that predicts survival among those aged over 70.”

A similar study is being performed with twins in the UK by Professor Time Spector, who said that he had discovered similar findings:

“It’s probably a combination of genes plus environment over a lifetime that is important. If a patient looks older than their years then perhaps they should be more concerned.”

What do our younger looking readers think? Are you destined to live longer or is looking younger than you are more trouble than it’s worth?