London, Jul 18 (IANS): Living on the seaside could help us in leading a healthy life, suggests a British study which found individuals living near the coast tend to be healthier than those who set up home further inland.

While analysing data from the 2001 census, British scientists compared how healthy respondents said they were with the fact how near to the sea they lived, Daily Mail reported.

Researchers from the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, part of the Peninsula College of Medicine at the University of Exeter, observed that, on average, the closer we live to the sea, the more likely we are to report good health.

Their analysis also showed that the link between living near the coast and good health was strongest in the most economically deprived communities.

They also took into account the way that age, sex and a range of social and economic factors, like education and income, vary across the country.

The results show that, on average, populations living by the sea report rates of good health more than similar populations living inland.

Study lead author Ben Wheeler said: "We know that people usually have a good time when they go to the beach, but there is strikingly little evidence of how spending time at the coast can affect health and well-being."