Nobel Prize winners live longer than those who don’t win.
On average, Nobel Prize winners live 1.6 years longer than nominees who aren’t selected. This finding is consistent with a causal link between status and longer lifespan, say Matthew D. Rablen and Andrew J. Oswald of the University of Warwick in the UK.
The mechanism for the link is unclear, but it may have to do with higher-status individuals’ greater control over their work lives. Lack of control in the workplace is associated with stress, and high levels of stress hormones damage immunological processes.