Tag Archives: live longer

Health Care

11 Health Habits That Will Help You Live to 100

Leave a comment

One of the biggest factors that determines how well you age is not your genes but how well you live. Not convinced? A study published in 2009 in the British Medical Journal of 20,000 British folks shows that you can cut your risk of having a stroke in half by doing the following four things: being active for 30 minutes a day, eating five daily servings of fruit and vegetables, and avoiding cigarettes and excess alcohol.

While those are some of the obvious steps you can take to age well, researchers have discovered that centenarians tend to share certain traits in how they eat, move about, and deal with stress—the sorts of things we can emulate to improve our own aging process. Of course, getting to age 100 is enormously more likely if your parents did. (Recent research suggests that centenarians are 20 times as likely as the average person to have at least one long-lived relative.) Still, Thomas Perls, who studies the century-plus set at Boston University School of Medicine, believes that assuming you’ve sidestepped genes for truly fatal diseases like Huntington’s, “there’s nothing stopping you from living independently well into your 90s.” Heck, if your parents and grandparents were heavy smokers, they might have died prematurely without ever reaching their true potential lifespan, so go ahead and shoot for those triple digits. Follow these 11 habits and check out Perls’ lifetime risk calculator to see how long you can expect to live.

1. Don’t retire. “Evidence shows that in societies where people stop working abruptly, the incidence of obesity and chronic disease skyrockets after retirement,” says Luigi Ferrucci, director of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. The Chianti region of Italy, which has a high percentage of centenarians, has a different take on leisure time. “After people retire from their jobs, they spend most of the day working on their little farm, cultivating grapes or vegetables,” he says. “They’re never really inactive.” Farming isn’t for you? Volunteer as a docent at your local art museum or join the Experience Corps, a program offered in 19 cities that places senior volunteers in urban public elementary schools for about 15 hours a week.

2. Floss every day. That may help keep your arteries healthy. A 2008 New York University study showed that daily flossing reduced the amount of gum-disease-causing bacteria in the mouth. This bacteria is thought to enter the bloodstream and trigger inflammation in the arteries, a major risk factor for heart disease. Other research has shown that those who have high amounts of bacteria in their mouth are more likely to have thickening in their arteries, another sign of heart disease. “I really do think people should floss twice a day to get the biggest life expectancy benefits,” says Perls.

3. Move around. “Exercise is the only real fountain of youth that exists,” says Jay Olshansky, a professor of medicine and aging researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “It’s like the oil and lube job for your car. You don’t have to do it, but your car will definitely run better.” Study after study has documented the benefits of exercise to improve your mood, mental acuity, balance, muscle mass, and bones. “And the benefits kick in immediately after your first workout,” Olshansky adds. Don’t worry if you’re not a gym rat. Those who see the biggest payoffs are the ones who go from doing nothing to simply walking around the neighborhood or local mall for about 30 minutes a day. Building muscle with resistance training is also ideal, but yoga classes can give you similar strength-training effects if you’re not into weight lifting.

4. Eat a fiber-rich cereal for breakfast. Getting a serving of whole-grains, especially in the morning, appears to help older folks maintain stable blood sugar levels throughout the day, according to a recent study conducted by Ferrucci and his colleagues. “Those who do this have a lower incidence of diabetes, a known accelerator of aging,” he says.

5. Get at least six hours of shut-eye. Instead of skimping on sleep to add more hours to your day, get more to add years to your life. “Sleep is one of the most important functions that our body uses to regulate and heal cells,” says Ferrucci. “We’ve calculated that the minimum amount of sleep that older people need to get those healing REM phases is about six hours.” Those who reach the century mark make sleep a top priority.

6. Consume whole foods, not supplements. Strong evidence suggests that people who have high blood levels of certain nutrients—selenium, beta-carotene, vitamins C and E—age much better and have a slower rate of cognitive decline. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that taking pills with these nutrients provides those antiaging benefits. “There are more than 200 different carotenoids and 200 different flavonoids in a single tomato,” points out Ferrucci, “and these chemicals can all have complex interactions that foster health beyond the single nutrients we know about like lycopene or vitamin C.” Avoid nutrient-lacking white foods (breads, flour, sugar) and go for all those colorful fruits and vegetables and dark whole-grain breads and cereals with their host of hidden nutrients.

7. Be less neurotic. It may work for Woody Allen, who infuses his worries with a healthy dose of humor, but the rest of us neurotics may want to find a new way to deal with stress. “We have a new study coming out that shows that centenarians tend not to internalize things or dwell on their troubles,” says Perls. “They are great at rolling with the punches.” If this inborn trait is hard to overcome, find better ways to manage when you’re stressed: Yoga, exercise, meditation, tai chi, or just deep breathing for a few moments are all good. Ruminating, eating chips in front of the TV, binge drinking? Bad, very bad.

8. Live like a Seventh Day Adventist. Americans who define themselves as Seventh Day Adventists have an average life expectancy of 89, about a decade longer than the average American. One of the basic tenets of the religion is that it’s important to cherish the body that’s on loan from God, which means no smoking, alcohol abuse, or overindulging in sweets. Followers typically stick to a vegetarian diet based on fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts, and get plenty of exercise. They’re also very focused on family and community.

9. Be a creature of habit. Centenarians tend to live by strict routines, says Olshansky, eating the same kind of diet and doing the same kinds of activities their whole lives. Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day is another good habit to keep your body in the steady equilibrium that can be easily disrupted as you get on in years. “Your physiology becomes frailer when you get older,” explains Ferrucci, “and it’s harder for your body to bounce back if you, say, miss a few hours of sleep one night or drink too much alcohol.” This can weaken immune defenses, leaving you more susceptible to circulating flu viruses or bacterial infections.

10. Stay connected. Having regular social contacts with friends and loved ones is key to avoiding depression, which can lead to premature death, something that’s particularly prevalent in elderly widows and widowers. Some psychologists even think that one of the biggest benefits elderly folks get from exercise the strong social interactions that come from walking with a buddy or taking a group exercise class. Having a daily connection with a close friend or family member gives older folks the added benefit of having someone watch their back. “They’ll tell you if they think your memory is going or if you seem more withdrawn,” says Perls, “and they might push you to see a doctor before you recognize that you need to see one yourself.”

11. Be conscientious. The strongest personality predictor of a long life is conscientiousness—that is, being prudent, persistent, and well organized, according to The Longevity Project, coauthored by Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin. The book describes a study that followed 1,500 children for eight decades, collecting exhaustive details about their personal histories, health, activities, beliefs, attitudes, and families. The children who were prudent and dependable lived the longest, Friedman says, likely because conscientious types are more inclined to follow doctors’ orders, take the right medicines at the right doses, and undergo routine checkups. They’re also likelier to report happier marriages and more satisfying work lives than their less conscientious peers.

Health Care

Coffee Drinkers Might Live Longer

Leave a comment

I’m sure the folks at Starbucks are rejoicing at yesterday’s headlines announcing that “coffee drinkers might live longer.” Women who drank more than six cups of coffee a day were found to have a 17 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses over 24 years of follow-up compared with those who drank less than one cup a month. My editor had a big smile on her face when she heard this news and happily told me that she downs eight cups of freshly brewed coffee every morning before she comes to work. Though I hate to burst her bubble, I have to point out that women who drank four to five cups per day actually had better protection: a 26 percent lower risk of dying.

Being a two-cup-a-day person myself, I think the findings of this study are more reassuring than life altering. The researchers carefully phrased their conclusion that “regular coffee consumption was not associated with an increased mortality rate” and that evidence of modest benefits needs to be studied further. Certainly, women shouldn’t add coffee to their list of nutritious foods that they have to get more of. After all, male coffee drinkers in the study didn’t enjoy a lower death rate, and too much caffeine can cause temporary increases in blood pressure—not good for those with hypertension or heart disease.

JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, agrees. “The evidence isn’t up to the level where people should be encouraged to take up coffee drinking for the purpose of improving their health.” She’s one of the researchers on the Nurses’ Health Study, which provided the data for the current study, and notes that it simply observed the lifestyle habits of people rather than randomly giving coffee to some and not to others. “It’s quite possible that people who drink coffee regularly drink less of other beverages like sugar-sweetened sodas, so it’s really open to question as to whether these are direct benefits from the coffee itself.”

Pregnant women also need to be wary of how much coffee they drink. Studies have flip-flopped over whether caffeine can cause miscarriages, but one compelling finding that my colleague Ben Harder blogged about in January suggests that drinking as little as 200 milligrams of caffeine a day—equivalent to about two cups of brewed coffee—doubles the rate of miscarriages. Many experts advise pregnant women to abstain from coffee if they can or at least to limit consumption to about one cup a day.

But coffee certainly never earned its “sinful food” reputation either. A growing body of research has shown that, like tea, coffee packs a wallop of antioxidants that can protect against diseases like diabetes, Parkinson’s, gallstones, and some cancers, as U.S. News previously reported. And an April study found that small amounts of caffeine could help counteract the increased Alzheimer’s disease risk found in those with high cholesterol levels. Though caffeine has been linked to bone loss in elderly women, additional findings show that this poses a problem only for those who don’t get enough calcium.

“I think the bottom line is that coffee is not deleterious to health and may even have some health benefits,” Manson says. “For those who are regular coffee drinkers, that’s good to know.”

Health Care

Can Housework Help You Live Longer?

Leave a comment

It’s well known by now that active people typically live longer than those who are sedentary. But precisely what types or amounts of exercise most affect life span has not been clear. Several new studies, though, are beginning to provide some clarity, suggesting that certain activities may be better than others in terms of affecting mortality risk.

Perhaps the most memorable of the new studies was conducted by researchers in Europe who turned to a large database of health information about middle-aged British civil servants. The workers, ages 35 to 55 at the start, were followed for a decade or so, during which time they filled out repeated health questionnaires.

The topics included each man or woman’s physical activity during the previous month. Specifically, the questionnaires asked about the number of hours that the volunteers had spent walking, gardening, performing housework, playing sports (swimming, cycling, golf or soccer) and puttering around the house completing yardwork and do-it-yourself repair projects.

Each activity was designated as “mild,” like washing the dishes and cooking; “moderate,” encompassing weeding and brisk walking; or “vigorous,” which here included swimming and mowing the yard. (Riding mowers apparently didn’t factor in.)

The researchers also checked death records for the civil servants.

They found that in general, physical activity of any kind was associated with longer life. But the association was much stronger among those people whose activities were relatively intense. Those who regularly painted and repaired their houses or walked briskly enjoyed more protection against premature death than those who washed dishes, even if people spent more overall hours engaged in “mild” activities.

That finding agrees with those of a study published this year in The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, in which scientists in Copenhagen followed 5,106 adult recreational cyclists for about 18 years, asking their volunteers to occasionally report how many hours and how strenuously they were riding their bikes.

The researchers also tracked deaths among the group.

It turned out that the men and women who reported riding relatively hard (although none were racers) lived longer than those who rode at an easy pace, even if they weren’t pedaling for as many hours. On average, cyclists who regularly rode hard lived about four or five years longer than those who went at a more leisurely pace.

“Our general recommendations to all adults would be that brisk cycling is preferable to slow,” the authors conclude.

But not all researchers are convinced that intense exercise is essential, if your goal is a longer life. The general consensus among most researchers studying exercise and longevity “is that it is the total amount of energy expended that is important,” and not whether you huff and strain during that expenditure, says Dr. I-Min Lee, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, an author of a major new examination of exercise and life expectancy.

In that study, published last week in PLoS Medicine, Dr. Lee and colleagues from the National Cancer Institute and other institutions compiled physical activity, body mass and mortality data for more than 650,000 American adults who’d participated in National Cancer Institute studies over the years.

The researchers compared the volunteers’ activity levels against the current governmental recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate activity (like brisk walking) per week. They found that those who met the recommendation lived on average 3.4 years longer than people who didn’t exercise. Those who ambitiously doubled the recommended amount of weekly exercise enjoyed additional gains in life span, but at a noticeably diminishing rate, typically living 10 months or so longer than those who just met the guidelines.

Even people who were overweight or obese lived longer if they exercised moderately, whether or not they lost weight during the study period.

Interestingly, the association between physical activity and longer life held true also for those volunteers who reported exercising only occasionally. “A very low level of activity, equivalent to 10 minutes per day of walking, was associated with a gain of almost two years of life expectancy,” says Steven Moore, a research fellow with the National Cancer Institute, who led the study.

In fact, he says, “maximum longevity was reached at a physical activity level equivalent to 65 minutes per day of walking, with no evidence for gains above this level of activity.”

What all of this suggests, Dr. Lee says, is “that physical activity, even at a modest level, can increase life expectancy.”

But it’s also probable, although not yet definitively proven, she continues, that “intense exercise gives additional benefit above the risk reduction afforded by energy expenditure alone.”

In other words, pushing yourself during your next walk, bike ride or home-repair project might amplify the activity’s longevity-enhancing benefits, Dr. Lee says. But if you don’t wish to or cannot increase the intensity of your exercise, don’t sweat it.

The largest gain in terms of adding years to someone’s life, she says, comes in that space between “doing nothing to achieving the lower end of the activity scale,” which makes even the usually tedious prospect of washing this morning’s breakfast dishes more palatable.