Lifestyles that Promote Living Longer and Better

People in many parts of the world are living longer, due largely to improvements in medicine and healthier lifestyle afforded by less poverty. The downside is that the longer one lives the more likely a debilitating disease will emerge, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, or Alzheimer's Disease. For many people, the important thing is not how long they live, but how long they can live without serious physical suffering.

Many studies have established that the incidence of the common debilitating diseases can be reduced or delayed by modifiable lifestyle factors. While genes can obviously affect one’s vulnerability to disease, genes may not be the primary factor in how long or how well one lives. This is suggested, for example, by one study of over 110,000 healthcare professionals (about 1/3 male, 2/3 female) that clearly showed the value of healthy lifestyles.

The investigators queried these subjects and categorized them according to five lifestyle criteria:

•    Diet, as assessed using the Alternate Healthy Eating Index, with a score in the upper 40% indicating a healthy diet;

•    Smoking (never vs ever);

•    Moderate to vigorous physical activity (≥ 30 minutes/day);

•    No alcohol consumption above 15 g/day for women, 30 g/day for men;

•    Body mass index (18.5-24.9 kg/m²).

Women who met four of the five low-risk lifestyle factors lived 10 more years free of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes at 50 years than women who followed none of the low-risk factors. In men, the gain in disease-free life expectancy was near 8 years. In terms of total life expectancy, women in the low-risk group at age 50 showed an increase from 31.7 years to 41.1 and men increased their life span from 31.3 years to 39.4 years.

This large-scale study confirms what has been indicated by a host of earlier studies that healthy lifestyles involve proper diet, absence of smoking, low consumption of alcohol, substantial exercise, and a BMI in the range of 18.5-24.9 kg/m.²  Moreover, both women and men who have a healthy lifestyle have significantly more years in which they avoid crippling heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.

The largest impact was on reduced incidence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in both women and men. The lifestyles that were most likely to increase the three major diseases were smoking and obesity, in both women and men. Perhaps beneficial effects would be magnified by more stringent healthy lifestyle criteria (for example, upper 10% of healthy diet or level of exercise).

Other posts on lifestyle and aging research have clearly identified other healthy factors, such as  the value of emotional well-being and reduced psychological stress. Anecdotes suggest that living a life of worthy purpose may also promote aging well and living longer, though apparently there is not much formal research on this possibility.

Though we have no direct control over our genes, most of us can largely control how we live our lives. The beneficial effects of healthy lifestyle on aging well and longevity surely include direct enhancement of organ function and indirect effects on gene expression. Healthy lifestyles will help you, as we say in Texas, "Go out with your boots on."

Source

Li, Yanping, et al. (2020). Healthy lifestyle and life expectancy free of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes: prospective cohort study, January 8, BMJ 2020; 368 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l6669