Want to Live Longer? Win A Nobel Prize.

Here's an easy way to add two years to your life -- win a Nobel prize. Researchers in the UK have found that the winner's sudden boost in status adds years to their life -- although they're not sure how.

Their study sought to separate the effect on longevity of status from wealth. They targeted Nobel winners because their status was immeasurably enhanced in one day.

The lead researcher, Professor Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick (UK), remarked that "status seems to work a kind of health-giving magic. Once we do the statistical corrections, walking across that platform in Stockholm apparently adds about 2 years to a scientist's life-span. How status does this, we just don't know."

Oswald and his coauthor studied Nobel winners and nominees from 1901 to 1950 (nominees names aren't released for fifty years). Winners lived to 77.2 years while losers "only" lasted until 75.8 years.

Both figures are significantly higher than the average lifespan during the period.

The cash prize itself was found to have no effect on longevity.

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A pdf of the research is here; a summary is here. An article in Live Science provides additional background.