Boredom can actually kill you, a new study has revealed.

To reach the conclusion, researchers at University College London looked at data from 7524 civil servants, aged between 35 and 55, interviewed between 1985 and 1988 about their levels of boredom.

They then found out whether they had died by April last year.

Those who reported feeling a great deal of boredom were 37 per cent more likely to have died by the end of the study, the researchers found.

Scientists said that this could be a result of those unhappy with their lives turning to such unhealthy habits as smoking or drinking, which would cut their life expectancy.

"The findings on heart disease show there was sufficient evidence to say there is a link with boredom," the Courier Mail quoted researcher Martin Shipley, who co-wrote the report, as saying.

The study is to be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology this week.