If you want to live longer ... just be patient

PATIENCE isn’t just a virtue. It could also help you live longer.

Research shows that the body’s DNA ages more quickly in people who are impatient – and women are particularly prone to the effect.

The finding comes from researchers in Singapore who put more than 1,000 healthy students through tests of their patience.

They were told they could either receive a gift of 100 Singapore dollars (£50) the next day or wait a month for more money. They were then asked how much this would need to be for it to be worth waiting. The more money a volunteer said they would need to be prepared to wait, the less patient they were deemed to be.

So someone who said it would take (the Singaporean equivalent of) £60 in a month’s time, was judged less patient than one who said they would hold off for £53.

The volunteers also gave blood samples which provided clues to how quickly they were ageing. The researchers looked at tiny structures called telomeres, biological caps which are found at the ends of chromosomes and protect the DNA in them from damage, much like the caps on the ends of shoelaces prevent fraying. As we get older, our telomeres get shorter, leading to DNA damage and increasing the chance of agerelated illness.

The structures are considered so important that the scientists who discovered them seven years ago were awarded a Nobel prize for medicine.

The students who were deemed impatient in the study had shorter than average telomeres, particularly the women. Differences in sex hormones may explain why women are particularly badly affected, according to the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Professor Richard Ebstein, of the National University of Singapore, said the findings were significant: ‘The determinants of successful ageing are of paramount importance’.