“Psychologists have found repeatedly that people with a strong sense of purpose in life tend to fare better on several different measures of mental health, well-being and even cognitive functioning.
Most recently, a team of researchers from Canada and the United States surveyed 3,489 adults between the ages of 32 and 84. They found that adults who reported a greater sense of purpose in life also tended to score higher on tests of memory and executive functioning.
While the reason for this relationship between purpose in life and cognition isn’t clear, the authors cite the importance of promoting “healthy cognitive and purposeful aging.”