上大學能讓人長壽？

Higher education could help you live longer, according to a study。

It found people who went to college or university had lower blood pressure as they aged than those whose education finished when they left school in their teens。

With high blood pressure doubling the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke, according to the Blood Pressure Association, the finding suggests a good education could save your life。

The biggest health benefits were found among those with master's degrees or doctorates, and were stronger for women, the journal BMC Public Health reports。

Researchers at Brown University, Rhode Island, who tracked the health of nearly 4,000 American men and women for 30 years, also found highly educated men tended to be thinner and smoked and drank less than those without further education。

Well-educated women also smoked less and were thinner - but drank more than those who did not go to college or university。

The jobs taken by school-leavers may also impact on health。

Study leader Eric Loucks said: "Low educational attainment has been demonstrated to predispose individuals to high strain jobs, characterized by high levels of demand and low levels of control, which have been associated with elevated blood pressure."

He isn't sure why women's blood pressure is particularly affected by education - or the lack of it. But it may that lack of education affects a woman's lifestyle, and so her physical health, more than a man's。

Dr Loucks said: "Women with less education are more likely to be experiencing depression, they are more likely to be single parents, more likely to be living in impoverished areas and more likely to be living below the poverty line."

"Socio-economic gradients in health are very complex. But there's a questions of what do we do about it."

"One of the big potential areas to intervene on is education."

The British Heart Foundation cautioned that the differences in blood pressure noted were small but added: "Action is needed across all parts of society to give children the best possible start in life and reduce health inequalities."

Education has also been linked with warding off Alzheimer's. But it may be the case that when the condition does hit, it hits harder and progresses faster。一項研究表明高等教育會讓人長壽。

隨着歲月流逝，上過大學的人血壓一般比中學輟學的人低。

血壓協會的此項調查結果顯示，高血壓會使心臟病和中風發生的概率加倍，而高等教育則能挽救你的生命。

《英國醫學委員會公共健康》期刊報道稱這項結果尤其適用於碩士或博士，女性羣體表現更爲明顯。

羅德島布朗大學的研究人員跟蹤研究了約4000名美國人的健康狀況，發現與僅受過初等教育的人相比，受過高等教育的男性偏瘦，吸菸飲酒的量也更少。

受過高等教育的女性也更瘦，吸菸的情況也更少，然而她們的飲酒量卻比未上大學的女性更大。

未上大學的人從事的工作對他們的健康也有影響。

該項研究的負責人埃裏克•魯克斯說：“文化程度低的人從事的工作一般勞動強度高，各項要求高且管理級別低，進而導致血壓升高。”

但他並不清楚爲何女性血壓高低與受教育程度有很大關聯，可能是因爲教育對女性的生活方式和健康影響尤甚。

魯克斯說：“學歷低估女性更可能產生抑鬱，成爲單親媽媽，生活在貧困地區和貧困線下。”

“因社會經濟因素導致的健康差異相當複雜，關鍵是如何解決。”

“其中一個重要方式就是教育。”

英國心臟基金會提醒說上述所說的血壓差別其實很小，但是“全社會都需採取行動讓孩子有最好的開始，減少健康不平等的現象。”

教育還能降低老年癡呆症發病的可能性，但是在發病時，受教育程度高的人病情會更嚴重，惡化也更迅速。