Higher Education Linked to Longer Life [STUDY]

People without HS education tend to smoke more, says CDC

Depending on who you tell, this could be enlightening or another "no sh*t, Sherlock" moment.

The CDC has released a study saying that higher education is linked to longer life. They've found that people who have a bachelor's degree or higher live about nine years longer than those who didn't graduate from high school.

It's not because of violence or dying from stupidity, really. The study places most of the blame on smoking and overall unhealthy lifestyles.

USA Today reports:

In 2010, 31% of adults ages 25 to 64 with a high school diploma or less were currently smoking, compared with 24% of those who had some college and 9% with a bachelor's degree.

That is surprising, seeing as how it looks like many people pick up smoking habits during college.

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"Highly educated people tend to have healthier behaviors, avoid unhealthy ones and have more access to medical care when they need it," says the study's lead author Amy Bernstein. "All of these factors are associated with better health."

The study also found that in 2010 24% of boys and 22% of girls were obese in households where the heads of the family did not finish high school. On the flipside of that, household's headed by people who had a bachelor's degree or better only had 11% of boys and 7% of girls being obese.

The study insists that because people with little to no education don't live in the nicest places, they also don't have access to healthy food or places to exercise. 

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