July 21, 2017 2:00 pm
Three Healthy Behaviors Linked With a Longer Life
By Brad Stulberg
Even though we live an exciting era of cutting-edge technology, genomics, and personalized, precision medicine, your best chance at living a long, healthy life is incontestably low tech: Don’t smoke. Don’t become obese. Lay off the booze.
For a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, researchers from the University of Michigan tracked over 14,000 people — a group that was representative of the general American population — starting at age 50. They found that those who reached 50 who had never smoked, who were not currently obese (BMI less than 30), and were not currently heavy drinkers (defined as less than 14 drinks a week for men and less than seven drinks a week for women) lived, on average, seven years longer than their peers. What’s more is that the researchers also tracked disability (i.e., trouble walking, bathing, getting out of bed) and found that of those seven additional years, six were disability-free. In other words, this wasn’t just about an increase in life; it was about an increase in good life.
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/07/three-healthy-behaviors-linked-with-a-longer-life.html
