I have for sometime realized from my own life experience how important it is to have a sense of purpose, to know what it is, and to strive each day to include activities which enable me to achieve my sense of purpose.

Wham-O I had a new sense of purpose, and many of my activities of daily living now channeled me into feeling a sense of personal achievement and accomplishment, a sense of self satisfaction with myself and my life, a feeling of okayness (remember “I’m Okay,
You’re Okay?”

I acknowledge that those of us deeper into the symptoms of dementia probably of this or that type cannot by themselves redefine a new sense of purpose for themselves. They cannot by themselves create daily activities that help them achieve their sense of purpose. They may need others to assist them in the search. The will need others to find/create activities of daily living that lead them to a sense of self-fulfillment of their sense of purpose.

What follows is a report on some research on the impact a defined, achieved, and achievable sense of purpose has on our lives. This comes from the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Chicago. They have formed one of the most active, creative, and popular programs for folks living in the early stages of dementia probably of this or that type that I know of in the U.S. of A.

TUESDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) — If you have a purpose in life — lofty or not — you will live longer, a new study shows.
It does not seem to matter much what the purpose is, or whether the purpose involves a goal that is ambitious or modest.

“It can be anything — from wanting to accomplish a goal in life, to achieving something in a volunteer organization, to as little as reading a series of books,” said study author Dr. Patricia Boyle, a neuropsychologist at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center and an assistant professor of behavioral sciences at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

“We found that people who reported a greater level of purpose in life were substantially less likely to die over the follow-up period — only about half as likely to die over the follow-up period — as compared to people with a lower level of purpose,” Boyle said. The follow-up period averaged nearly three years.

Boyle and her colleagues studied 1,238 older adults already participating in two ongoing research studies at Rush, the Rush Memory and Aging Project and the Minority Aging Research Study. The participants were all dementia-free when the study began and averaged 78 years old. At the start of the study, the participants answered questions about their purpose in life, rating themselves on different areas meant to measure the tendency to derive meaning from life and to feel that one is working toward goals. The average score on the sense-of-purpose evaluation was 3.7 of a possible five, Boyle said.

When comparing scores, Boyle found that those with a higher sense of purpose had about half the risk of dying during the follow-up period as did those with a lower sense of purpose. And that was true, she said, even after controlling for such factors as depressive symptoms, chronic medical conditions, and disability. “What this is saying is, if you find purpose in life, if you find your life is meaningful and if you have goal-directed behavior, you are likely to live longer,” she said.

Though much other research has found that having a purpose in life is crucial to maintaining psychological wellness and can be important for physical health as well, Boyle said she believes the new study is one of the first large-scale investigations to examine the link between life purpose and longevity.

The finding follows another recent study, done by others, in which the researchers found that retirees older than 65 who volunteered had less than half the risk of dying during about a four-year follow-up period as did their peers who did not volunteer their time.

What is the link? Boyle cannot say for sure. But it could be that having a greater sense of purpose helps multiple systems of the body function better, conferring protection in the face of illness.

The findings make sense to Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. He said he often sees the effects of not having a purpose among older patients. “I see a number of people who have lost that purpose,” he said. “Their health declines.” Boyle said that in future research they hope to find out if people can be inspired to have purpose in life, perhaps by being taught to set goals and work toward them.

Richard

SOURCES: Patricia Boyle, Ph.D., neuropsychologist, Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, and assistant professor, behavioral sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago; Gary Kennedy, M.D., professor, psychiatry and behavioral science, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and director, geriatric psychiatry, Montefiore Medical Center, New York City; June 15, 2009, Psychosomatic Medicine