It makes sense that to find happiness, we all need some sense of purpose. It doesn’t have to be something big or earth-shattering, just a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It might be a job you love, the time you look forward to spending with your family or even a calling such as healthcare or a religious vocation. But did you know that having purpose in life is actually good for your physical health and might actually help you live longer?

In his book titled Life on Purpose, author Victor Strecher writes about how the sudden loss of his 19-year-old daughter changed everything about what he thought life should be. Strecher, a behavioral scientist at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, explored the relationship between happiness and purpose and found that purpose changed one’s life path. In his book, Strecher defines purpose as living with one’s values and goals and striving to make a positive impact on the world. He then looked at the science behind purpose. He found that having a purpose can be measured and that there is a strong correlation between purpose and psychological wellness, physical health, and longevity.

According to Strecher, studies have found that for every point increase on a six-point scale that measures purpose in life, adults with heart disease have a 27 percent decreased risk of having a heart attack. For older adults, that same one-point difference translates to a 22 percent decrease in having a stroke. Strecher goes on to say that the relationship between a life purpose and health is unclear though it likely has to do with how one perceives stress, even on the cellular level.

In a 2015 article titled Purpose in Life is Good for Your Health, Dr. Sanjay Gupta discusses the idea that having a sense of purpose and a life that is worth living could be measured. He goes on to write about a study conducted by Dr. Randy Cohen, a cardiologist and medical director of University Medical Practice Associates at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. In a review of 10 different studies involving over 136,000 people, Dr. Cohen and his colleagues discovered that people with a low sense of purpose, measured via psychological survey, were more likely to have a stroke, heart attack, or coronary artery disease. Conversely, people that scored a well on the survey had a 23 percent reduction in mortality and a 19 percent reduction in cardiovascular events.

So, what does all this mean? While scientific evidence strongly suggests having a sense is good for your physical and mental health, the exact mechanism remains unclear. Researchers believe that people with purpose generally tend to take better care of themselves. For example, they might be more likely to get routine health examinations such as cholesterol testing and mammograms. People with a purpose also tend to spend less time in the hospital, possibly because they have a strong reason to be discharged, such as a desire to see their loved ones. The bottom line is that we all need a reason to live and that to live our best life, we need to look beyond ourselves and find something special to believe in.