How Diet, Exercise, and Weight Management Can Add a Decade to Your Life

(Pakistan Point News / Online - 21st February, 2020) xperts say exercising for 30 minutes a day plus not smoking or drinking excessively can increase your years without chronic health issues. Getty ImagesResearchers say healthy lifestyle habits can add as much as a decade to your life span.

The researchers identified five lifestyle factors as important, including diet, exercise, and maintaining a moderate body weight. (Pakistan Point news / Online - 21st February, 2020) xperts say the two most important things to avoid are smoking and developing overweight or obesity.

We'd all like to live a long time in good health.Now a recently published study has concluded there are lifestyle factors that can increase your odds of reaching an older age without chronic health issues.

There's been plenty of research on lifestyle choices, such as smoking, physical activity, drinking habits, weight management, and diet, that affect our overall life span and likelihood of experiencing chronic diseases.

However, few studies have looked at how a combination of these factors relate to a long life free of disease."We wanted to see whether following a healthy diet and exercise can prolong life, not just life expectancy but life expectancy free of chronic diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes," Dr.

Frank Hu, MPH, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan school of Public Health in Massachusetts and lead study author, told Healthline."Because we're not just looking at life span but also health span, meaning that there are increased years of life free of chronic disease," he said.

Increasing your healthy life spanYears of life free from cancer, heart disease, and diabetes at age 50 was 24 years for women who followed none of the low-risk lifestyle factors.

It was 34 years for women who adopted four or five of the factors.

The life expectancy free of these chronic diseases was 24 years among 50-year-old men who followed no low-risk lifestyle factors.Diet is keyBeing selective in what you eat is one of the most important lifestyle factors.

"Foods that are high in fiber have been studied extensively for the benefits that they provide when it comes to cardiovascular health, including blood pressure regulation," Shelley Wood, MPH, RDN, a clinician at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in California, told Healthline.

Wood explains these foods are plant-based and include whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.Additionally, legumes, such as beans, lentils, and peas, have been shown to lower the risk of heart disease, high cholesterol level, and high blood pressure.

For those wishing to preserve heart function and health, Wood says they'd benefit from avoiding foods high in sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and refined carbohydrates.Smoking, obesity effectsAccording to the study, men who smoked heavily defined as 15 or more cigarettes per day and men and women with obesity (defined as BMI 30 or higher) had the lowest chance of disease-free life expectancy at age 50.

"We looked at five lifestyle factors: eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy body weight, not drinking in excess, not smoking, and being physically active. They're all important. But for smokers, the most important thing for them to do, of course, is to stop smoking. For people who are obese, it's important to lose weight and maintain a healthy body weight," Hu said.