Good Habits to Develop (or Break) for a Longer, Healthier Life
A person born today, in the United States, will live an average of 79 years, according to the National Institutes of Health. A hundred years ago life expectancy was much lower, averaging just 54 years. Certainly social factors, technological and medical advances, plus wider accessibility to healthy food, clean water and reliable shelter have changed our longevity game.
These days, though, much of it comes down to you and your habits. Genetics account for about 40 percent of our likely longevity outcome. If your family is long-lived, you’ve got genetics on your side. If your family tends to die young, genetics are not on your side. In either case, 60 percent of your outcome comes down to your habits and choices.
Here are eight habits to embrace and four to break.
Habits to develop:
Being impeccable with your word. Some of you will recognize this as one of the four agreements from the bestselling book by the same name. Being conscientious, or impeccable with your word, is a good habit to develop. Conscientious people make and keep regular medical check-ups. They follow instructions when taking medications. They follow safety guidelines and pay their bills on time. People who do these things can reduce their probability of early death by 44 percent and are at a lower risk for developing dementia.
Nurturing your social connections, friendships and love. Two of the most important factors in leading a longer (and more satisfying) life are forming friendships and experiencing (and giving) love. How to turn love and friendship into a healthy, actionable habit? Call or email one friend each day. Organize a weekly (or monthly) get together with friends. Try getting together over a healthy meal or for a game night. Another simple method? Call or email people on their birthdays. Win-win.
Taking care of your mental health. When we think about health and longevity, the first things that come to mind are eating well, exercise, good sleep and the like. Caring for your mental health is just as important. People who are dealing with serious mental illness die 10 to 20 years earlier than the overall population. A 2019 evaluation of more than 100 studies found that people with mental illnesses die early not primarily because of suicide, but because of largely preventable poor physical health. Dying by suicide accounts for around 17 percent of unnatural deaths among people with mental illness, however for people with depression, for example, there’s a 40 percent higher risk of cardiac disease, obesity or diabetes than the general population.
Changing the way you think about aging. The way we think about something (like aging) is important. There’s a quote from a self-help book that says, “Whatever you believe to be true, whether it is true or not; if you believe it, then to you it becomes the truth.” Becca Levy, in her book “Breaking the Age Code,” cites numerous studies that positive beliefs about aging can lengthen your lifespan by a whopping 7.5 years. That’s a testament to the power of positive thinking!
Moving it. Often. But don’t freak yourself out thinking you’ve got to start running marathons or something. That’s not it at all. If you move for 30 minutes a day, on most days, you’ve got it. That could mean a ten-minute walk in the morning, one after lunch and one in the evening. Maybe you were planning to drive to get a coffee, but it’s only a 15-minute walk. There and back and you’ve checked your movement box for that day. If you work a desk job, get up and walk around or stretch every hour or so.
Learning to mind your money. Creating a solid financial foundation for yourself gives you options as you age. Think about how you might want to spend your time in your 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond. Does a traditional retirement around age 65 sound like a plan? Would that allow you to spend more time, say, bird watching or hanging out with grandchildren? Maybe you want to continue to work, but in a different field. No matter how you visualize your later years, more savings will mean less stress. A good first step is to educate yourself about money matters. Start saving if you haven’t already. It’s never too late. Start by saving a little each month. Then save more. When you have an emergency fund to cover six months of living expenses or so, reduce the amount you put into savings and put the remainder into a retirement account. Money can be a stressful, emotional topic but, if you develop good habits, managing your money can become as routine and un-emotional as brushing your teeth.
Choosing healthier foods most of the time. Eating mostly vegetables, fruit, fish, whole-grain and complex carbs, nuts and cooking with olive oil while reducing the amount of red meat and processed foods is a good plan. The healthiest diet is a Mediterranean-style diet, which is easy to follow with a few key swaps: olive oil instead of butter; a serving of almonds instead of chips; fish instead of fried chicken; brown rice instead of mashed potatoes…you get the picture. Aim to eat this way about 80 percent of the time and allow yourself to eat a burger and fries – or whatever you’re craving – about 20 percent of the time. Everything in moderation, including moderation!
Managing your weight. Your body is a complex machine, and it operates best within optimal parameters. Being overweight is one thing. It’s not the best for you but that’s not what we’re talking about here. Obesity, defined by the World Health Organization, is ‘abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. A body mass index (BMI) over 25 is considered overweight; over 30 is obese.” A person’s joints, brain, heart and lungs simply can’t work as well if they have obesity.
Habits to break:
Smoking. One in three people who are heavy smokers (a pack a day) at age 35 will die from smoking related diseases before age 85. Even very light smoking, say one or two cigarettes a day, makes you 64 percent more likely to die early. There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. Smoking kills more than 450,000 Americans each year.
Using too much technology. If we’re not careful, we could end up spending decades in front of one screen or another. This is not good and can shorten and/or reduce the quality of our lives. Bad posture is part of it – sitting hunched over a laptop or bent over a phone screen puts stress on the head, neck, back and shoulders which can lead to chronic pain. Exposure to the light from screens at night can disrupt our natural wake and sleep patterns, AKA circadian rhythms. Too little or poor sleep and chronic pain are two factors known to reduce life expectancy.
Booty time. Spend a lot of time sitting? Stop that! Get up and move around. No matter how active you are, if you sit for six hours a day or more, your mortality rate increases by 20 percent. Why? Too much time parked on your derriere can slow your metabolism, increase risk of cardiovascular disease and decrease the effectiveness of insulin. If you work a desk job, get up and walk or move around every hour or so.
Eating junk food regularly. If fast food, junk food and ultra-processed foods like chips, ice cream, hotdogs and soda make daily appearances in your diet, this is a great time to change that. A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine took a look at premature deaths in Brazil. It found that in a single year, some 57,000 people between the ages of 30 and 69 died prematurely, and that their deaths were attributable – not just linked – to eating ultra-processed food.
