How fast can you think on your feet? While some of us take our time to deliberate and generally think at a slower pace, some are more easily able to wrap up a decision or find a solution in mere seconds. This difference, while helpful in certain situations, might offer more than the benefit of brevity.

A new study has looked at over 6,000 people from Switzerland, trying to identify certain psychological traits that are correlated with living longer lives. The study found that those were perceived themselves as healthy and also whom were quick thinkers were the most likely to age more gracefully. Newsmax has more:

Using two types of statistical analysis, the researchers were able to assess the relative importance of 65 different variables in predicting participants’ mortality risk. The results revealed individuals who perceived themselves as healthy and were able to process information — think on their feet — were far more likely to live longer than those who didn’t have those attributes.

“Our study shows that two psychological variables, lower self-rated health and age-related decrements in processing speed, appear to be especially important indicators of elevated mortality risk in middle-age and older adults,” said psychological scientist Stephen Aichele of the University of Geneva in Switzerland. “This information may facilitate diagnostic accuracy and timely interventions.”

The question will inevitably come: can we improve our processing speed? This study does not directly look at this, however, given the power and plasticity of the brain, it would not be a surprise to find that certain activities do lead to a higher processing speed. Check out the full post for more details.

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