How to live longer: Mid-life is critical time for extending your lifespan – what to do
Martin Daubney suggests a 'vegan tax' as they 'live longer'
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A research paper in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) declared: “Adherence to a healthy lifestyle at mid-life is associated with a longer life expectancy free of major chronic diseases.” Implementing healthy habits during mid-life and beyond minimised the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. There were five lifestyle factors identified that help prolong longevity.
The first crucial element to help extend longevity is not to smoke tobacco – whether it’s roll-ups, cigarettes, or shisha.
Another important factor is to have a “body mass index [BMI] between 18.5 to 24.9” – find out your BMI on the NHS website.
Working out for 30 minutes or more daily was also a contributing factor to a longer lifespan.
This needed to be classified as “moderate to vigorous physical activity”, so the exercise would need to raise your heart rate to count.
To illustrate, a leisurely, long walk alongside a picturesque backdrop wouldn’t count as part of the 30-minute daily exercise.
However, if you walked that same route at a more brisk pace, it would most definitely be considered exercise.
Another life-sustaining factor is to “moderate alcohol intake”; this is less than 15g day for women, and less than 30g for men.
The Alcohol Education Trust pointed out that one unit of alcohol is equivalent to eight grams.
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One unit of alcohol is equivalent to a single serving of spirit, such as vodka, gin, or whiskey.
“Some strong beers contain nearly three units per pint rather than the two units found in ordinary strength lager,” added the Alcohol Education Trust.
The organisation added: “A medium glass of white wine (175ml) can be over two units.”
The BMJ-published study also cited “a higher diet quality score” that helped improved longevity.
The researchers noted: “Quality of diet was assessed using the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) score.”
This, in essence, is a healthy diet full of nutrients from fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.
Men aged 50 – who adopted no low-risk lifestyle factors – had an average life expectancy of a further 23 years without cancer, cardiovascular disease or diabetes.
Meanwhile, men aged 50 – who adopted four or five low-risk lifestyle factors – enjoyed a further eight years of life compared to the other group of men.
This means, in total, men who adopted healthy lifestyle habits in mid life could expect to live for another 31 years.
As for women, those who didn’t adopt a healthy lifestyle would live on average for an additional 23 years.
However, women who chose healthier habits lived for around an extra 34 years.
This means females who didn’t implement healthy habits lived till, on average, 73 years while female who implemented healthy habits lived till 84 years old.
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