Recessions ‘could be good for your health’

[ukhudshanskiy]

The study, from the University of Michigan, found that death rates during the early 1930s fell, before increasing again when the economy picked up. Studying health trends during the 20 years around the Great Depression, from 1920 to 1940, the researchers found life expectancy increased by 6 years between 1929 and 1932, from 57 to 63. The number of people who died from heart disease or cancer fell, while suicides increased as unemployment rose, said the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.