Those who achieve fame and fortune in their career may die younger than successful people who do not become famous, according to a study from researchers at the University of Queensland and the University of New South Wales.
For the study the researcher examined obituaries posted in the New York Times between 2009 and 2011. Of 1,000 obituaries they found that performers like actors, singers and professional athletes died at an average of 77 years old while writers died at 79, academics died at 82 and business people died at 83.
"A one-off retrospective analysis like this can't prove anything, but it raises some interesting questions. First, if it is true that successful performers and sports players tend to enjoy shorter lives, does this imply that fame at younger ages predisposes to poor health behaviours in later life after success has faded?" asks lead researcher Richard Epstein in a BBC report.
"Or that psychological and family pressures favouring unusually high public achievement lead to self-destructive tendencies throughout life? Or that risk-taking personality traits maximise one's chances of success, with the use of cigarettes, alcohol or illicit drugs improving one's performance output in the short term?" he adds.
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