Feel Younger, Live Longer: Study Reveals Longevity Mantra

Research has shown that elderly who are young at heart are likely to live longer than their peers who feel their age or older.

According to Daily Mail, researchers from University College London studied 6,500 men and women with an average age of 65.8 years. However, the perceived average age was 56.8 years. Nearly 70 percent in the group reported feeling at least three years younger while 20 percent said they felt they were a year older than their chronological age. During the eight-year study, researchers examined death rates only to find smaller numbers in the group which reported feeling younger than their actual ages.

"This relationship has been shown before, but not in such a large scale study in which we were able to look at such a range of possible explanations. We still don't understand what the explanation really is," said the study's co author Andrew Steptoe, according to Fox News, adding that further research is required to help understand the phenomenon.

Time reported that those who felt older than their chronological age were at a 41 percent higher risk of death even after factoring illnesses like diabetes, when compared to rest of the group.

"Self-perceived age has the potential to change, so interventions may be possible. Individuals who feel older than their actual age could be targeted with health messages promoting positive health behaviors and attitudes toward aging," the authors wrote in the study.

The findings of the study have been published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.