The Japanese believe that everyone has a “reason for being,” or “ikigai.” In Japanese culture, searching for one’s ikigai is regarded as very important, as the discovery of one’s ikigai is believed to bring meaning, direction and satisfaction to life. In fact, National Geographic writer Dan Buettner theorizes that one of the main reasons Okinawans are among the longest-lived people on the planet is because they have a high sense of ikigai.
Buettner is probably on the right track. A new study by researchers at the Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital and the Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital demonstrates that people with a high sense of purpose in their lives, who have high ikigai, may have a reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular events, such as heart disease and stroke. The researchers performed a meta-analysis of relevant studies in order to assess the impact of ikigai on cardiovascular events and mortality.
Randy Cohen, Chirag Bavishi and Alan Rozanski led the meta-analysis study. They performed a systemic search to pinpoint studies that examined the impact of ikigai on mortality and cardiovascular events. The meta-analysis features ten prospective cohort studies published during the past eleven years, with data from a total of 137,142 people. The findings of the meta-analysis were presented on Mar. 6 at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology & Prevention / Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health (EPI/Lifestyle) 2015 Scientific Sessions in Baltimore.
The first study followed 1,189 American adults aged 70-79 over a period of seven years. The study found that even after accounting for a number of demographic, health status, behavioral and psychosocial factors, older adults who never or rarely felt useful to others were more likely to experience an increase in disability or to die over the seven-year period, compared with older adults who frequently felt useful.
The second study, the Ohsaki Study, followed 43,391 Japanese adults over a period of seven years and assessed their sense of ikigai. The study showed that when compared with people who had found their ikigai, the risk of death was significantly higher among people who had not found it, with the increase in mortality risk attributable to cardiovascular disease.
The third and fourth studies followed 1,306 northern Japanese men and 1,653 northern Japanese women aged 40-74 from 1988 to 2003. The studies found that for men, having a strong sense of ikigai was associated with a decreased risk of death from stroke and/or cardiovascular disease. In contrast, for women, the studies did not find a significant relationship between having a sense of ikigai and mortality. However, this was most likely due to the smaller number of female deaths in the study, which reduced the statistical significance.
The fifth and sixth studies, from the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study, followed 30,155 Japanese men and 43,117 Japanese women aged 40-79 years from 1988 to 1990 and assessed their sense of ikigai, among other lifestyle factors. The studies found that when compared to men and women without a sense of ikigai, men and women with a strong sense had reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, coronary heart disease and external causes.
The seventh study followed 784 rural Japanese adults aged 65 and older from 1995 to 2001 and assessed their perceived usefulness. The study found that even after adjusting for subjective health and other variables, people with a greater sense of usefulness to others had significantly reduced mortality.
The eighth study followed a nationally representative sample of 1,361 American adults aged 65 and older from 1992 to 2007. The study found that older adults who have a strong sense of meaning in life have reduced risk of death when compared to those who lack a strong sense of meaning in their lives. Specifically, the findings of the study suggest that a greater sense of meaning in life is associated with better health, which, in turn, is associated with a lower risk of death.
The ninth study followed 1,238 community-dwelling American adults (with a mean age of 78) for five years. The study found that possessing a greater purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk of death among community-dwelling older persons, even after adjusting for factors such as age, sex, education and income, as well as confounding variables such as depression, disability and chronic medical conditions.
The tenth study followed a nationally representative sample of 7,108 American adults aged 20-75 for 14 years, beginning in 1994. The study found that people who had a purpose in life lived longer than their counterparts, who felt their lives lacked purpose. Notably, the study found that obtaining and maintaining a strong purpose in life can be just as critical at younger ages as it is at older ages.
The common denominator in all 10 of these studies is the significant association between possessing a strong sense of purpose in life and a reduced risk of cardiovascular events and death.
Cohen, Bavishi and Rozanski believe that future research should focus on investigating the importance of ikigai as a determinant of health and well-being as well as on developing strategies to assist individuals with a low sense of life purpose in finding their ikigai.
For now, Cohen urges individuals who possess a low sense of life purpose to start searching for their ikigai in order to improve their overall well-being.
