U-M Study: Bad Economy May Be Good for Your Health

Looks like tough economies are good for more than one kind of belt tightening, according to a new University of Michigan study.Excerpt:Are you finally ready for some good news about the recession? As it turns out, a shaky economy might actually be good for your health.Although it seems hard to believe, a new analysis of the Great Depression—the mother of all economic bad times—suggests that mortality dropped and life expectancy increased during that period.Researchers estimate that around that time, a year with a 5% drop in the gross domestic product (GDP) was associated with a 1.9-year gain in life expectancy, while a 5% rise in the GDP lowered life expectancy by about one to two months.And it’s not just the Great Depression, says José A. Tapia Granados, MD, of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Read the rest of the story here.