The fault lies not in our genes, but in ourselves.
Most of us would like a long, healthy life. But millions of Americans die far too young, and millions more live in poor health for many years.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Yes, genetics play a role in the longevity lottery—particularly for those living to 100 or beyond—but how we live our lives is a more important factor for most people, scientists say.
Scientists used to think that genetics accounted for roughly a quarter of longevity. Some recent research has found that genetics account for less than 10% of how long you will live.
“The older you get, the more your genetics take precedence. But you’ve got to live to be older first,” Dr. Stephen Schimpff, a retired Maryland internist, tells Barron’s.
Barron’s spoke with medical doctors and scientists to compile a list of seven things that you should do to help you live a long, healthy life. Exercise regularly. Eat healthy. Drink moderately, if at all, and don’t smoke. Get enough sleep. Maintain strong relationships. Challenge your brain. Manage stress.
Others have looked at the same question and come up with similar lists. Dr. Peter Attia, in his book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, and in his medical practice, advises people to aim for the best possible health measures while young or middle-aged—including the fitness levels of elite athletes—to help protect their health from the inevitable declines that come with aging.
Schimpff, in his book Longevity Decoded: The 7 Keys to Healthy Aging, points to a study of nurses that found a 50-year-old woman who adopted healthy lifestyle changes (healthy diet, regular exercise, healthy weight, no smoking, and moderate alcohol intake) would extend her life by an average of 14 years while a 50-year-old man would extend his by 12 years compared with a person who did none of those five lifestyle factors.
The younger you make these changes, the bigger the effect could be on your health and longevity. Schimpff, 82 himself, notes that even an 80-year-old who adopts healthy practices would extend his or her life by several years.
Here are seven things you can do to improve your chances of a long, healthy life.
1. Exercise Regularly
Exercise helps prevent heart disease; it helps ward off depression and dementia; it even helps prevent cancer by revving up our immune system.
Cardiovascular fitness is so important that the American Heart Association now views it as a critical health metric. Cardiorespiratory fitness “is a potentially stronger predictor of mortality than established risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes,” the association said.
The best way of testing cardiorespiratory fitness is the VO2max test, which measures the maximum amount of oxygen your body can consume during vigorous exercise. Barron’s wrote about the test earlier this year and I took the test myself. It was harder than I thought it would be and my results weren’t quite what I had expected.
The good news is that most Americans could improve their cardiorespiratory fitness by taking brisk walks around their neighborhood. People should get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise a week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To maximize your fitness, include some interval training into your exercise regimen, says Dr. Michael Joyner, a fitness expert at the Mayo Clinic. Once a week, do 4×4 interval training: four intervals of intense exercise lasting four minutes apiece, separated by rest between each interval.
Joyner works out for about an hour six days a week. On three of those days, he mixes weightlifting and lighter aerobic exercise. On two other days, he does hard aerobic exercise and the final day is “very hard,” he says.
Strength also matters. Seniors with strong grip strength, which is a surprisingly good proxy for overall strength, have lower mortality rates, according to a 2019 study.
To get the maximum benefit from weightlifting for your muscles and bones, you want to do full-body, multi-joint movements such as squats, dead lifts, and overhead presses that stress your hips, spine, and shoulders. Make sure to seek proper coaching because all of those exercises can be dangerous if done with poor form.
Weightlifting—along with diet—is also key for avoiding osteoporosis.
2. Drink Moderately, if at All, and Don’t Smoke
The case against smoking is one of the most clear in all of health. The life expectancy for smokers is at least 10 years shorter than for nonsmokers, according to the CDC.
The case against drinking is more complicated. Heavy alcohol use can be even worse for you than smoking. The CDC says excess alcohol use lowers life spans of those who die by an average of 26 years.
For many years, moderate drinking was thought to be good for your health based on research that showed moderate drinkers lived longer than nondrinkers. New studies are increasingly finding that moderate drinkers lived longer because of other demographic factors such as being more affluent or exercising more, not because of the alcohol.
The new bottom line is that even moderate alcohol consumption might be bad for your health. But it might not be very bad for your health. If you’re drinking a glass of wine every day and you lead an otherwise healthy life, it shouldn’t have a big effect on longevity, doctors say.
There is one exception: People who have atrial fibrillation, or AFib, should avoid drinking. Even moderate drinking can bring on episodes, and AFib increases the likelihood of stroke.
3. Eat Healthy
Americans eat too much processed and red meats, too much saturated fat, and too much refined carbohydrates.
What should we be eating instead? That’s a harder question.
Research has repeatedly found the Mediterranean diet—whole grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, and fish—is healthier than the typical Western high-meat, high-fat diet.
But if you look at the world’s so-called blue zones where people live longer, their inhabitants aren’t all devotees of the Mediterranean diet. Rather, they eat a variety of different foods, such as sweet potatoes in Okinawa, Japan, or tortillas, beans, squash, and fruit in Costa Rica. There are two constants among these populations: They consume a lot of plant-based food and they aren’t eating a Western diet.
Overeating is another bane in our diets. Portion sizes have grown larger over the years, processed food is easier to consume around the clock, and Americans have gotten heavier. It is easier to lose weight through diet than exercise, though exercise will help you keep it off, health experts say.
In his book, Dr. Attia says there are three main approaches to managing your weight: Controlling what you eat, controlling how many calories you eat, and controlling when you eat—or intermittent fasting.
4. Get Enough Sleep
Not sleeping enough wreaks havoc on our immune systems, weight, brains, and general health.
People need at least five hours and 45 minutes of sleep a night, according to Dr. Aruna Rao, a sleep expert at Johns Hopkins. Some people require eight hours or more a night.
How can you tell if you’re getting enough sleep? If you wake up feeling refreshed on your own, have plenty of energy, and don’t fall asleep during the day, you’re probably getting adequate sleep, experts say.
Want to improve your sleep? Practice good sleep hygiene. That means having a regular bedtime, avoiding computers and smartphones before bed, and sleeping in a cool dark room.
5. Maintain Strong Relationships
People are social animals, and loneliness can be killer, particularly for older people.
As you get older, and friends and family members pass away, you need to keep building new relationships to retain a rich social network. An 85-year Harvard study found links between happiness and longevity, and that people with strong social connections were happier.
Contact with other people is one of the reasons working past retirement age appears to be good for longevity. Even part-time work in retirement helps keep you connected.
6. Challenge Your Brain
The key to keeping your brain fresh isn’t brain teasers and crossword puzzles, according to a Barron’s article. Instead focus on constantly challenging and stimulating your brain.
A challenging job helps keep your brain healthy. So does learning a new language, or traveling to new places, or learning new skills.
“It’s everything,” cognitive neuroscientist Denise Park, who runs the Park Aging Brain Laboratory at the University of Texas at Dallas, told Barron’s. “There are hundreds of skills that people possess, and you lose a lot of them if you don’t just interact with other people but with your environment.”
By the same token, anything that cuts you off from your environment is bad for your brain. That means you should get a hearing aid if you can’t hear what people around you are saying. People with untreated hearing loss have a 90% higher rate of dementia than others in their age group, according to the 2020 Lancet commission on dementia prevention, intervention, and care.
7. Manage Stress
Stress is a natural part of life usually brought on by difficult situations. Chronic stress, however, puts you at greater risk of anxiety, depression, memory problems, weight gain, digestive issues, muscle pains, heart disease, stroke, and sleep loss, according to this article from the Mayo Clinic.
You can’t avoid stress. The key then is learning how to manage it. Different tactics work for different people and some of the strategies psychologists suggest are the same things that can help you live a healthier life too. Regular exercise, meditation, yoga, and even participating in a religion can be useful ways to understand and possibly alleviate stress. If you feel overwhelmed and need additional help, consulting with a psychologist can help. Find whatever works for you.
Write to Neal Templin at [email protected]
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