Does Finding Purpose Have Health Benefits?

The Takeaway

What if the old “apple-a-day” approach to health is wrong? Normally, we’re completely focused on the details of a prescription for a healthy life – an apple a day, eight hours of sleep, 30 minutes of exercise, no cigarettes, no saturated fats, limited sodium, and so on.
But what if you started with the big-picture instead – like, your purpose in life? It sounds a little ambitious, but  Vic Strecher, director for innovation and social entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan School Public Health, says that’s the kind of approach we should take to see meaningful, healthy behavior change.

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