Research Provides 5 Healthiest Habits for Living 10+ Years Longer

A comprehensive study on low-risk lifestyle factors and their effects on life expectancy was published at the end of April 2018. It uses data from 78,865 women for a 34-year study period, and 44,354 men for a 27-year study period, tracking and analyzing the healthiest lifestyles compared to the least healthy.

pixabay, CC0 Creative Commons

The top 5 healthiest lifestyle habits to extend life by a decade or more are:

• eating healthy

• exercising regularly

• keeping a healthy body weight

• drinking little

• not smoking

The research also concluded that people who maintained a healthy lifestyle were 82% less likely to die from heart disease and 65% less likely to die from cancer. The average life expectancy of Americans was also determined to be shorter at 79.3 year compared to other high-income countries.

The study quantified the healthy lifestyles according to the criteria of exercise for 30 minutes or more of per day, of body weight with a low body mass index between 18.5-24.9 kg/m2, and of low consumption of alcohol up to a maximum of 5-ounces of wine per day for women and 10-ounces for men. A healthy diet was based on the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) consisting of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts and legumes and polyunsaturated fats like omega-3 fatty acids. No smoking is pretty obvious, don't smoke at all.

flickr, Public Domain

Women who didn't adopt these low-risk lifestyle habits were estimated to have an additional 29 years of longevity after the age of 50, while only 25.5 of additional years to live for men. But those who did adopt the 5 healthy habits saw a an increase life expectancy of up to 43.1 years for women and 37.6 years for men. That's a 67% increase for both men and women, accounting for 12 additional years for men and 14 additional years for women compared to those who didn't adopt these 5 low-risk lifestyle health factors.

Taking into account the study period duration of 34 years, those who followed these 5 healthy habits were 74% less likely to die compared to those who didn't. All 5 healthy habits are the way to get the most out of life and live the longest, but it's not absolutely required to increase life expectancy. Each individual healthy habit also reduced the risk of early death, but all 5 reduced it the most.

The USA is currently at rank 31 in the world for longevity, but that can change. The Standard American Diet is called the SAD diet based on that acronym, and it's known to be high in fat, sugar and salt. The amount of people overweight has increased in the last few decades. A healthy lifestyle is not synonymous with the American way of life, with junk food as a staple for many. But if people engaged in more of the these 5 healthy lifestyle habits, they would see improvement to their longevity and the US would be healthier overall.

Some people advocate the government to ban or impose taxes on various unhealthy products like sugary drinks. But instead, people should want to take their lives and responsibility to be healthier and live longer in their own hands and change from their own will power. Instead of depending on external authority to make us healthier, we need to want to be healthy and do it for our own sake.

We need to lead our lives by our higher order consciousness to know what is better for us in the long term, not be led by lower unconscious sensory stimulus in taste sensations and gratification. Ask yourself if living 10 years longer is valuable to you, if it's worth the effort. Ask yourself if you have the self-love and self-worth to value your existence enough to do it.

---

References:

• Five Healthy Lifestyle Habits Can Extend Life By More Than A Decade, Study Suggests
• These 5 Habits May Help You Live 10 Years Longer, Study Says
• These 5 healthy habits could help you live a decade longer, study suggests
• Following five healthy lifestyle habits may increase life expectancy by decade or more
• "The Impact of Healthy Lifestyle Factors on Life Expectancies in the US Population," Yanping Li, An Pan, Dong D. Wang, Xiaoran Liu, Klodian Dhana, Oscar H. Franco, Stephen Kaptoge, Emanuele Di Angelantonio, Meir Stampfer, Walter C. Willett, Frank B. Hu, Circulation, April 30, 2018, DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.032047

---

Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.

---

_{If you appreciate and value the content, please consider: Upvoting, Sharing or Reblogging below.
me for more content to come!}

---

_{My goal is to share knowledge, truth and moral understanding in order to help change the world for the better. If you appreciate and value what I do, please consider supporting me as a Steem Witness by voting for me at the bottom of the Witness page.}