Healthy lifestyle habits have been related to good health and longevity. Researchers have now specifically identified eight habits that when adopted by middle age, can improve longevity by greater than 20 years.
The team evaluated 700,000 veterans between the ages of 40 and 99 enrolled within the Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program. Through the follow-up, over 30,000 participants died.
“We checked out all-cause mortality on this study using Cox proportional hazard regression models and longevity using a multi-lifetable method, calculating the longevity for male veterans and feminine veterans individually,” said Xuan-Mai T. Nguyen, who presented the study at Nutrition 2023, the flagship annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Boston.
The study showed that individuals who adopted eight healthy lifestyle habits by the age of 40 lived longer than the others. Adopting the life-style changes could potentially add 24 years to a person’s life and 23 years to a girl’s life, researchers said.
Know the 8 healthy habits:
- Stay physically energetic
- Avoid smoking
- Manage stress
- Healthy eating regimen
- Avoid regular binge drinking of alcohol
- Get sleep routine
- Maintain positive social relationships
- Not develop an opioid addiction
Low physical activity, opioid use and smoking had the best impact on lifespan, raising the chance of death by 30 to 45%. Stress, binge drinking, poor eating regimen and poor sleep routine raised the chance of death by around 20%, while the dearth of positive social relationships contributed to a 5% increase.
The study helped to quantify the advantages of an individual’s healthy lifestyle decisions when it comes to years added to the lifespan.
“We were really surprised by just how much may very well be gained with the adoption of 1, two, three, or all eight lifestyle aspects. Our research findings suggest that adopting a healthy lifestyle is vital for each public health and private wellness. The sooner the higher, but even if you happen to only make a small change in your 40s, 50s, or 60s, it still is helpful,” Nguyen said.
Researchers said the findings confirm the role of lifestyle aspects in contributing to chronic diseases corresponding to type 2 diabetes and heart disease, that are major contributors to premature death.
Published by Medicaldaily.com