If you thought entrepreneurship was too stressful a path to venture down, you might want to reassess. A new study found that there may be a surprising benefit to starting a business: longevity. 

The study, titled “Do Entrepreneurs Live Longer?,” comes from researchers at the School of Business at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey and was published in the Journal of Business on October 22. For the research, associate professor Cristiano Bellavitis and his collaborators examined 20 years of data from 27,501 Americans 50 and older.

Interestingly, it found that those who work for themselves may live longer than those who spend the bulk of their lives working for others: Entrepreneurs had a 10% lower risk of premature death. That was true even after researchers accounted for other factors that might tip the scale in either direction, such as age, income and wealth, and level of education.

The research offers a different perspective on work that can feel all-encompassing or lead to longer hours, which entrepreneurship is often associated with. While previous studies have found that long hours can lead to an uptick in death by heart-related illness, such as stroke, other considerations apparently come into play, such as the sense of freedom that can (sometimes) flow from working for yourself. 

Bellavitis said it’s a vital component that showed up in the study. “Most people think of entrepreneurship as extremely stressful, and it certainly can be. But entrepreneurship also gives people a high degree of autonomy and the opportunity to pursue something they genuinely love or care about,” he stated in a press release .

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