New research highlights eight healthy lifestyle habits that could extend your life.
In a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, researchers found that men who adopted all eight habits in middle age lived 24 years longer than men whose lifestyle included little or no of these habits. Women’s life expectancy increased by 23 years for those who adopted all eight habits compared to women who did not.
The study was based on data from nearly 720,000 U.S. veterans ages 40 and older, considered a nationally representative sample. Described by researchers as “therapeutic lifestyle factors,” the eight key habits were:
Overall, people who adopted the eight were 13 percent less likely to die for any reason during the roughly eight-year study period, the researchers said, and the participants’ mortality rate decreased as the number of healthy habits they followed increased.
The greatest risk of mortality was linked to smoking, low physical activity and opioid use. Researchers have categorized the adoption of healthy behaviors such as the eight habits as follows: “lifestyle medicine”, which focuses on “the underlying causes of chronic diseases rather than their symptoms.”
Lifestyle medicine could also help reduce health care costs, the lead researcher said in a statement released by the American Society for Nutrition.
This article is part of the Post’s “Big Number” series, which takes a brief look at the statistical side of health issues. Additional information and relevant research is available via the hyperlinks.
