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A new study found that eight specific habits could add years to your life.
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According to a cardiologist, some of these habits are crucial for a healthy heart.
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People with all eight habits are predicted to live over 20 years longer than those with none.
From deciding which foods to eat if you want to live longer to trying to fit in daily exercise, staying on top of your health takes effort. But a new study found eight healthy habits that may add years to your life, significantly increasing life expectancy.
The study has yet to be published or peer-reviewed but was presented in July during the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition.
Scientists collected the data by examining 700,000 U.S. veterans’ habits and their life expectancies. Researchers found that adopting these habits by middle age resulted in a much longer lifespan compared to those who only followed a few or none of them. While the average age of veterans in the study was not listed, researchers did find that 40-year-old men and women with all eight habits were expected to live an average of 24 and 21 years longer, respectively, than those who followed none.
8 Habits for a longer life
The eight habits, per CBS News, include:
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Following a healthy diet
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Staying physically active
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Not smoking or vaping
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Maintaining healthy social relationships
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Not abusing opioids
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Having good sleep hygiene
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No alcoholism and not frequently binge drinking
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Reducing stress
Sean Heffron, M.D., a preventive cardiologist and director of Fitness-focused Cardiology in the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at NYU Langone Heart, says he is not surprised by the list. “A lot of [these] are the factors that have come up repeatedly as being associated or protective of heart disease, which is the number one killer of all Americans, and so many of them are obviously associated as risk factors with cardiovascular disease.”
According to a news release, the study found that low physical activity, smoking, and using opioids increase your risk of death by 30-40%, which means staying active and drug-free can help you live much longer. “Sleep, diet, exercise, not smoking, managing stress—those are the predominant ones,” Dr. Heffron says.
While some of these factors seem a bit obvious, researchers noted that participants only needed to apply one to see benefits. “We were really surprised by just how much could be gained with the adoption of one, two, three, or all eight lifestyle factors,” says Xuan-Mai T. Nguyen, health science specialist at the Department of Veterans Affairs and rising fourth-year medical student at Carle Illinois College of Medicine, per the news release.
The American Heart Association (AHA) released its own list of lifestyle habits people should follow to improve their cardiovascular health and lower the risk for heart disease, called Life’s Essential Eight. AHA’s list overlaps with the eight habits from this study, both stating that eating better, not smoking, and sleeping well are keys to a healthier life. Life’s Essential Eight also says to manage weight, control cholesterol, manage blood sugar, and manage blood pressure. While some of these things are not habits, per se, Dr. Heffron says it’s all interlinked as diet and exercise have a role in blood pressure and cholesterol.
The bottom line
“These are honestly things that I talked about with my patients,” says Dr. Heffron. As a cardiologist, he emphasizes physical activity and eating a healthy diet, both professionally and personally. “They are certainly the ones with the most robust data behind them,” he says. However, Dr. Heffron says managing stress, having good social relationships, and sleeping well are all important too.
If you’re trying to live to 100 and love it, it’s never too late to start. Begin with making one lifestyle change and creating a new habit, then add in the eight factors over time.
“I often point out to patients that there are studies that look at patients with very strong genetic predisposition to heart disease specifically, that show that even in that setting, healthy lifestyle behaviors can have a marked effect on their risk of heart disease,” Dr. Heffron says. “So lifestyle is important for everybody, and you can really influence the prognosis of anybody.”
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