Add Years To Life By Living Healthy In Older Ages

A healthy life can lead you to a longer life, getting regular exercise, staying engaged friends and family, and quit smoking are all associated with longer life in a study that followed people in their 70s and even older for close to two decades! These healthy tips added, on average five years to women’s lives and six years to men’s. The results suggest that encouraging favorable lifestyle behaviors even older ages could enhance life.

Healthy Behaviors

People with the healthiest lifestyles lived an average of 5 and half years longer than those with the least healthy lifestyles. People over the age of 85 and those with chronic health conditions, a healthy lifestyle appeared to prolong life by four years. Gisele Wolf-Klein, MD, says the findings add to the evidence that it is never too late to improve health and prolong life. “It has been known for a long time that adjusting lifestyle behaviors at any age can be beneficial in terms of health and survival”, says Wolf-Klein director of geriatric education for the North Shore-LIJ Health System in New Hyde Park, N.Y.

Active Elderly Lived Longer

The study which is published in the journal BMJ included about 1,800 people who were followed for 18 years from the mid-1980s. Everyone in the study were 75 years old or may be older at the enrollment, and 9 out of 10 (92%) died during the follow-up. Half of them lived 90 years or longer, with women being more likely to survive to this age than men! Those who lived longer were also more likely to be highly educated, they participate in physical and non-physical leisure activities, have rich social networks, and were exercising regularly. Physical activity was the biggest predictor of longevity. People who regularly walked, or performed other exercise lived an average of two years longer than people who did not. Longevity in former smokers were similar to that of people who had never smoked, but 4 out of 5 former smokers quit between 15 and 35 years before entering the study.

Get out in the fresh air

This may seem obvious but getting outside in the fresh air is important for bone health as well as your general health. The reason for this is that sunlight produces Vitamin D in our bodies which results in healthy bones. Our bones start to thin as we age especially in women so anything which keeps them strong is vital. Being outside also makes you feel good.

Positive thinking

This may sound unusual but a positive attitude can make a difference. This is easy to say if you are in good health, have an active social life and no money worries: but even if you are not it can help to try and think of a few positive aspects, for example a happy memory of something. Doing this can improve your mood and boost your immune system.

Stop smoking

If you smoke then give up. Smoking causes a whole range of diseases which includes heart disease, lung cancer, bronchitis and osteoporosis. These are harmful at any stage in life but even more so in our later years. For example, osteoporosis or ‘thinning of the bones’ is the prime cause of falls in the elderly.

It can be difficult to give up and you may think that you are too old to get any benefit from this but that is not the case. It doesn’t matter how old you are as stopping smoking will improve your life expectancy, not to mention your health! Giving up smoking will also save you money which is another good to reason to stop.