A merry life but a short one

摘要

The idea that power could corrupt physically as well as morally-that the strain of high office might damage an incumbent's health-took a serious knock in the 1970s, with the publication of the first "Whitehall" study by Michael Marmot of University College, London. This showed that, among British civil servants, it is those at the top of the pyramid who are healthiest and live longest, even when other factors are taken into account. Being the alpha dog, Sir Michael found, is itself an elixir of life.