Education can lead to a longer life, with another 12 months added for every year of learning beyond school, research has shown.

Scientists also found that people who are overweight reduce their lifespan by around two months for every extra kilogram they carry.

Another key finding from the study of genes underpinning longevity was that people who are open to new experiences can expect to live longer. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh analysed genetic information from more than 600,000 individuals whose parents’ lifespan was also recorded.

Because people share half of their DNA with each of their parents, the team was able to calculate the impact of various genes on life expectancy.

Smoking a packet of cigarettes a day over a lifetime knocked an average of seven years off a person’s life

The investigation, which pooled data from 25 separate international population studies, found that cigarette smoking and traits associated with lung cancer had the biggest impact on shortening lifespan. Smoking a packet of cigarettes a day over a lifetime knocked an average of seven years off a person’s life, the scientists calculated.

Body fat and factors linked to diabetes were also found to have a negative influence on how long people were likely to live. On the other hand, education was associated with extending lifespan.

Jim Wilson, from the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, said: “The power of big data and genetics allow us to compare the effect of different behaviours and diseases in terms of months and years of life lost or gained, and to distinguish between mere association and causal effect.”

The research appears in the journal Nature Communications.

Commenting on the findings, David Melzer, from the University of Exeter Medical School, said: “Doubtless education is very important for health but the estimates reported here are about a generation in which many people only got primary education and few went on to higher education.

“Therefore the estimates of effect may not be relevant to our population now: an extra year of education then may have been much more important than it is now.”

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