More than 700,000 American 'veterans' can't be wrong. They are not veterans of the Vietnam or Iraq wars, but rather the name by which Anglo-Saxons refer to older people. Specifically, those who have participated in a macro study supported by the American Society of Nutrition, which has allowed us to obtain, let's call it that, the secret of longevity. The adoption of eight healthy habits allows you to prolong life not just a few more years, but decades. The difference between dying young or reaching the hopeful limit of human existence is not always marked by genes and heredity.
“Small changes in lifestyle contribute decisively to both our personal well-being and our life expectancy,” notes researcher Xuan-Mai T. Nguyen, a specialist in aging. “Even a small change, no matter when it starts, at 40, 50 or 60, is still beneficial,” encourages the specialist. For the study, scientists used data collected between 2011 and 2019, specifically from 719,147 people, aged between 40 and 99 years. During that time, 33,375 of them died.
Research has not revealed the Rosetta Stone of Life. The truly interesting thing about this work is knowing that, together, all these habits allow us to gain many years of existential quality. The main threats to human health are low physical activity, opioid use and tobacco. The risk of death increases between 30% and 45% among those who do little or no exercise and consume one or more toxic substances.
Stress, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet and lack of sleep are also among the main life killers. The chances of dying early increase in all these cases by around 20%. The eighth horseman of the human apocalypse is the lack of positive social relationships. 5% of lost years fall down the path of loneliness and oblivion. Correcting each of these routes allows you to gain a few years of quality life; and if they are added to each other up to decades. Science assures that this way you would surpass 90 and well, not in a bad way.
– Physical activity. There are countless studies on its impact on life expectancy and quality of life. It is already known that it is not enough to walk 8,000 or 10,000 steps a day, but it is also necessary to do strength exercise on a regular basis. Gyms can end up boring. But one must be aware that training is routine… that is broken with improvement in results and well-being. Physical activity, moderate or vigorous, provides 6 to 8 extra years of life.
– Tobacco. The number one enemy of human existence, along with lack of exercise, is tobacco. It is not necessary to remember the number of diseases linked to smoking. The largest poison that humans consume takes an average of 10 years of life. Quitting smoking before age 40 reduces the risk of dying from a disease linked to smoking by 90%.
– Opioids. The best known on the black market was heroin, but the current epidemic – wild in the United States and Canada, but on the rise in Spain – is related to the consumption of pain medications. The target is fentanyl, but there are more, such as tramadol. In the United States, life expectancy has fallen 2.4 years (to 76.4), due, according to the Government, to two causes: opioids and the pandemic.
– Stress. Living with very high levels of stress – the epidemic that has followed Covid, although it came before – reduces life expectancy by 2.8 years. Anxiety and depression kill because they promote fatal diseases, such as heart attacks. “To live better you have to learn to stop,” says Psychiatry professor Javier García Campayo, from the Miguel Servet hospital in Zaragoza.
– Alcohol. Another toxic substance as socially accepted as tobacco, and it is unnecessary to justify why it is bad company. A study published in 'Lancet' in 2018 estimated that 4 or 5 years are lost by consuming 18 beers or glasses of wine a week.
– bad diet. There are no prohibited foods or superfoods. Just common sense. A balanced diet should include especially fruits, vegetables, legumes, cereals, fish and white meat. Mediterranean is the only one that has proven its effectiveness as a healthy formula. Such a diet grants 10.7 years to women and 13 to men.
– Lack of sleep. Poor sleep is related to some of the diseases that kill the most, mainly heart attacks and cancer. Insomnia and its friends reduce between 13% and 20% of life expectancy. Here you have up to 16 more years, if you take care of yourself.
– Human relations. Forced loneliness, the evil of our society, kills. One of the latest studies puts the number of years lost due to social isolation at 15. There are sorrows that hurt a lot, too much.
Have you done the math? Don't do it, just live.
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