Forget anti-aging supplements and other hocus pocus: The key to a longer life more likely lies in developing a few everyday habits.
Research shows that some surprisingly simple practices can improve your health and extend your lifespan. Best of all, these habits cost you little or no money.
Following are a few things you can do every day that may help you to live longer.
1. Exercise more than recommended
It’s probably no secret to anyone that regular exercise can lengthen your lifespan. But a large study suggests that going beyond the recommended amounts of activity is especially beneficial to your health.
The study, published in a scientific journal of the American Heart Association, found that people who exercise moderately for more than 150 to 300 minutes per week, or vigorously for more than 75 to 150 minutes per week, live longer than those who fail to surpass either range recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The study analyzed data on more than 100,000 people who were followed for about 30 years and found that those who exercised beyond the norm had a “significantly reduced risk of mortality.”
According to a summary of the findings:
“The reduction was 21-23% for people who engaged in two to four times the recommended amount of vigorous physical activity, and 26-31% for people who engaged in two to four times the recommended amount of moderate physical activity each week.”
Exercise is so beneficial that it can compensate for genetic risks.
The findings of a separate study of more than 350,000 people that was published by the journal BMJ Evidence Based Medicine suggest that certain healthy habits — including regular physical activity — can offset a person’s genetic predisposition to a short lifespan or premature death by around 62%.
Learn more in “4 Habits That Could Lengthen Your Life — Despite Your Genes.”
2. Spend time outdoors
Spending time outdoors can be a feast for the senses. And as it turns out, hanging out with Mother Nature might extend your life, too.
Researchers at the University of East Anglia in England found that people who are exposed to greenspace more often report higher levels of health, including a lower risk of:
- Premature death
- Type 2 diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease
- Preterm birth
- Stress
- High blood pressure
3. Eat nuts
Eating nuts is associated with a host of health benefits. Walnuts are tied to lower blood pressure, for example, and pistachios have been linked to lower cancer risk.
A longer life is also among the potential benefits of regularly eating nuts.
A 2013 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people who ate tree nuts or peanuts every day were 20% less likely to die over the course of the study compared with those who did not eat nuts.
Eating nuts as seldom as once per week was still beneficial, but the study found that the more times per week someone ate nuts, the less likely they were to have died during the study period.
4. Get enough sleep (but not too much)
A night of blissful slumber leaves you feeling refreshed. It also may help you live longer.
Not only does proper sleep leave you less drowsy — and thus less susceptible to accidents — but studies have shown that those who get adequate sleep may live longer.
For example, a study led by researchers at University College London found that 50-year-olds who slept five hours or less nightly had a 25% higher risk of dying during the next 25 years than those who got up to seven hours of sleep each night.
However, you shouldn’t sleep your life away, no matter how tempting the prospect sounds. A separate study found that people who typically sleep for 10 or more hours per night were significantly more likely to have psychiatric illnesses or be overweight.
5. Stay hydrated
Keeping your body hydrated offers a host of benefits that go well beyond leaving you less thirsty.
A study by the National Institutes of Health found that, compared with adults who don’t drink enough fluids, those who remain sufficiently hydrated tend to:
- Have fewer chronic health problems like heart and lung disease
- Show fewer signs of biological aging
- Live longer
The researchers said this is likely due to the fact that staying hydrated helps keep sodium levels in balance.
6. Take glucosamine/chondroitin
Taking a supplement containing both glucosamine and chondroitin every day for a year or longer was associated with a 39% lower risk of death from any cause in a study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
When it came to death from cardiovascular-related causes specifically — like stroke, heart disease and coronary artery disease — the risk was 65% lower, as we reported in “This Supplement Could Lengthen Your Life, Study Finds.”
Of course, you should never start a new supplement without first talking to your health care provider. Even a seemingly benign supplement could cause side effects or interfere with medications.
7. Make use of safety devices
The world celebrates bold and reckless folks — at least until they go “splat.”
But if you are willing to live a quieter, more cautious life, it likely will extend your time on this planet. Buckling your seat belt, strapping on your helmet before a bike ride, wearing a life jacket in a boat — all of these things reduce your risk of a premature demise.
Although these measures should be common sense, in practice they sometimes seem more like uncommon sense. For instance, 749 lives lost in motorcycle accidents in 2017 could have been spared if the cyclists had been wearing a helmet, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Meanwhile, 2,549 lives could have been saved that same year if more people wore seat belts, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
8. Floss
Can keeping your choppers clean really extend your life? The evidence suggests so.
Some research has found a link between being diagnosed with gum disease and developing heart disease. It’s even more firmly established that severe gum disease raises your risk for mouth cancer and other serious health issues.
In fact, when geriatrician Dr. Thomas Perls — a professor at the Boston University School of Medicine — created his “Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator,” he included a question in that tool about flossing, which helps prevent gum disease.
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