Five Healthy Lifestyle Habits Can Extend Life By More Than A Decade Study Suggests

Source-Forbes- A new study examining three decades of data has found that men and women following five lifestyle habits can add more than a decade of life expectancy. The habits arent new: eating a healthy diet exercising regularly keeping a healthy body weight not drinking too much alcohol and not smoking. But according to this study the first comprehensive analysis of its kind in the U.S. they also arent very well followed. This study underscores the importance of following healthy lifestyle habits for improving longevity in the U.S. population" said senior study author Frank Hu chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School. However adherence to healthy lifestyle habits is very low." The study examined 34 years of data from 78865 women and 27 years of data from 44354 men pulled from the Nurses Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. The researchers report that for participants not following any of the five habits life expectancy at age 50 was 29 years for women and 25.5 years for men. For those adopting all five habits life expectancy at 50 was projected to be a little over 43 years for women and 37 years for men. Mortality from both cardiovascular disease and cancer was greatly reduced for those maintaining the five habits: 82 less likely to die from cardiovascular disease and 65 less likely to die from cancer compared to participants least likely to follow the habits.