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| Exercise is the habit that has the biggest impact on your life expectancy and also helps prolong it. (Source: Getty Images) |
Living longer is heavily influenced by lifestyle choices like diet and exercise. A new study has listed eight daily habits that can add more than 20 years to your life.
According to CNBC , the study, presented last month at the annual meeting of the American Dietetic Association, specifically found that practicing eight healthy habits at age 40 was associated with an additional 24 years of life expectancy for men.
Similarly, women also received similar benefits from applying these methods to their lives at age 40, with an additional 21 years of life expectancy.
Researchers were surprised at how much they could gain by adopting one, two, three, or all eight of these lifestyle habits. The earlier you start adopting these habits, the better. Even making small changes in your 40s, 50s, or 60s can be beneficial.
The eight habits, listed in order starting with the greatest impact on longevity, include:
- Do exercise.
- Do not abuse opioid painkillers.
- Avoid cigarette smoke.
- Manage stress levels.
- Follow a healthy diet.
- Not drunk.
- Prioritize good sleep.
- Maintain positive social relationships.
Adding just one of these habits to their routines appeared to add 4.5 or 3.5 years to men and women's lives, respectively, according to the researchers. Just two of these behaviors added 7 years to men's lives and 8 years to women's lives.
This was an observational study, in which the authors looked at the lifestyle choices of more than 700,000 US veterans aged 40 to 99. All were participants in a multi-year study.
Research shows that physical inactivity, opioid use and smoking have the biggest impact on life expectancy, with a 30% to 45% increased risk of death.
Stress, binge drinking, poor diet and poor sleep quality were all associated with about a 20% increased risk of death. Lack of positive social relationships was associated with a 5% increased risk of death.
Participants also saw an increase in longevity when they added healthy habits in their 50s and 60s.
“It is never too late to adopt a healthy lifestyle,” the authors stress.
Previously, many studies have shown that regular physical activity with appropriate intensity is an independent factor in preventing and improving cardiovascular diseases in different population groups. Exercising and playing sports helps to improve and maintain health, anti-aging...
Specifically, maintaining daily physical activity is reported to increase life expectancy by 8-10 years and prevent chronic diseases compared to a sedentary lifestyle.
Low-intensity exercise, such as brisk walking, can significantly improve blood pressure control in people with hypertension, improve some metabolic parameters and risk factors in diabetes, and may help control low-grade systemic inflammation.
The World Health Organization recommends that adults aged 18 years and older should get at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week or 21 minutes per day.
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