What if someone asked you, “Would you like to add between seven and ten healthy, disease-free years to your life?”. You would likely say a resounding YES and press in to find out just how you could make this happen, right? There aren’t many people that wouldn’t be ecstatic to add healthy and quality years to their life here on earth. The answer lies in the adoption of some specific healthy habits. Read on to find out how you could add quality years to your life starting today.
Lifestyle choices are the root of most disease
Poor lifestyle factors such as overuse of alcohol, poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking, and inadequate relief of chronic stress are key drivers in not only the development but also the progression of preventable chronic diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and several cancers.
Millions of Americans develop lifestyle-related illnesses yearly, and many of them pass away far too young from these conditions that could have been prevented if a healthy lifestyle had been adopted. We have all watched people close to us pass away from heart disease, type 2 diabetes and its complications, heart disease, and cancer. The only thing worse than the loss of a life is a preventable loss of life.
Think about it, we all have to eat, so why not eat in a way that will add years to your life rather than take them away? We all have time to add thirty minutes of exercise into our daily routine, but often fill this time with non life-giving pursuits such as surfing on our phone or watching television. Hits home, right? It really is not that difficult to make small tweaks that can have major rewards.
Yes, our days are numbered, and we never know when our life could end. However, doing everything you can to be healthy and unburdened by disease while on earth is not only beneficial to ourselves but also to those around us. Your life has value…never forget that!
New study brings hope for long life
A newly released study has found that eliminating bad habits and adopting five healthy ones can result in adding substantial, quality years to life. The bad habits are those that lead to the top disease promoters and life-shortening conditions in America, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other chronic conditions. The good habits are those that protect from these conditions.
According to senior study author Dr. Frank Hu,
“We found that following a healthy lifestyle can substantially extend the years a person lives disease-free. In particular, women who practiced all five habits gained over 10 years of disease-free life, and men who did so gained almost eight years.”
The nuts and bolts of the study
The study followed over 38,000 men for 28 years and 73,000 women for 34 years. The research discovered that women who adopted five healthy habits at age 50 lived an amazing 14 years longer than women who did not. Men who followed five healthy lifestyle habits at age 50 lived 12 years longer than men who followed none.
The study took a close look at how five healthy behaviors impacted the development of disease. These were:
- Never smoking
- Keeping a healthy BMI below 25
- Exercising 30 minutes each day
- Drinking alcohol moderately
- Eating a high-quality, healthy diet
For women, adopting four of five of the healthy habits over the next 20 to 30 years could result in an additional 10.6 years of disease-free living compared to women who made no changes. Healthier women gained an average of eight years cancer-free, 10 years with no cardiovascular disease, and 12 years without diabetes.
Men who adopted four to five healthy behaviors added 7.6 years to their life with six additional years cancer-free, nine years heart disease free, and 10 years free of diabetes.
Note: These results are true even after data was adjusted for age, ethnicity, family medical history, and other influential factors.
Men who smoked heavily (more than 15 cigarettes a day), or obese men and women with a BMI of 30 or more, had fewer disease-free years.
What about people diagnosed with disease during the study?
According to study data, half of the people diagnosed with cancer lived an additional 23 years if they adopted four of the five healthy habits. Of those who did not change anything, half only lived an additional 11 years. The same statistics were seen for heart disease and diabetes.
This is great news
This study is great news and brings tools that can be adopted, even later in life, to not only extend your life, but extend it with quality, disease-free years! I don’t know about you, but this is very hopeful and very specific news about how we can all be healthier and live longer.
Are you ready to live a longer and healthier life starting today? What bad habits do you need to slash from your life, and which healthy habits do you need to adopt?
-Susan Patterson