The next time someone complains about how much you talk, consider it good news. Extensive communication not only helps to create and nurture deeper social ties and to express yourself more accurately, but experts believe it can also be an indicator of a long life expectancy.
We will guide you through the findings of recent studies that suggest that people who talk for a long time also live a long time.
It is a popular scientific concept that the length of our life depends on our genes. Some experts even study what they call the “longevity gene,” a gene responsible for repairing DNA more efficiently.
Recent research suggests that our longevity depends not only on genetics but also on how much we talk.
A group of scientists from the Albert Einstein School of Medicine and Yeshiva University, in the United States, studied the number of words we say and how they affect our life expectancy.
They found that outgoing and talkative people who have more tolerable, positive, and optimistic ideas and behaviors have a better quality of life, increasing their longevity.
The research, led by Dr. Nir Barzilai, studied 250 older people between the ages of 95 and 100, focusing on the relationship between their personalities and their genetics.
The personality analysis revealed some amusing results: People who considered themselves more positive also liked to talk a lot.
And they are not the only ones who have come to that conclusion. The Spanish psychiatrist Luis Rojas Marcos explains in his book We Are What We Speak, that those who speak more than 15,000 words a day live longer than those who speak less.
According to Dr. Rojas Marcos, “talkative” people live with a sense of accomplishment, are healthier, and have a longer life.
Interestingly, their findings may support studies explaining why women live longer than men, as it is women who generally speak the most due to their high levels of FOXP2 protein, also known as “the protein of language.”
Scientists believe that higher levels of FOXP2 cause women to speak an average of 20,000 words a day, while men only speak about 7,000 words a day. There is a difference of 13,000 words that are worth noting.
Are you talkative and do you like good news? Or do you think genetics still play a bigger role in longevity? Tell us why in the comment section below!
