Scientists from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health of the University College London (Great Britain) have recovered data from a survey, carried out in 1985-1988, on the levels of boredom of 7,500 subjects between the ages of 35 and 55. The survey indicated that 10% of the participants were bored. Among those surveyed, those who suffered the most boredom were women and young workers .
To try to understand how the level of boredom affects health, Martin Shipley and his team compared these data with the survival rates of those same subjects two decades after the survey, in 2009. The results, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology. , show that those with high levels of boredom are 37% more likely to die. And not only that: Shipley and his team assure that a clear link between boredom and heart disease is inferred from their work. Regarding the causes, scientists suggest that bored people tend to feel less motivated and more unhappy, and therefore adopt unhealthy habits , such as smoking, using drugs or drinking alcohol, increasing the risk of heart disease.
