Unhealthy Lifestyle Shortens Life

Unhealthy lifestyle shortens life by 12 years. Experts from Bupa, a British health care organization, have discovered that middle-aged English women do belong to category of most unhealthy citizens of the country. It is related to the fact that no one wants to follow healthy lifestyle: women consume too much food and do not contribute much time for sports. Other population groups also do actively shorten their lives by consuming alcohol and smoking.

However, researchers found that permanent relationship or marriage may help couples to live four years longer. “It is never too late to change your life for the better”, says medical director of Bupa Health and Wellbeing, Annabel Bentley. - “Doesn't matter your age – whether you are over twenty or over seventy – you may add some years to your life but you should change lifestyle for that. We all know negative effects of smoking and alcohol on our health but this research helps to make some calculations, so finally they know how many years they lose.”

Bupa created on their official site special medical calculator to count approximate length of human life. In order to perform these accounts you should enter your age, height and other data (amount of alcohol you consume, number of exercises you make).

Calculator defines your “health age” (which may greatly differ from biological one) and provides some recommendations to improve your health. For example, you should change your diet, reduce alcohol consumption and make regular exercises. Bupa claims that an average inhabitant of Great Britain could be 12 years younger his biological age if they kept healthy lifestyle.

Four Golden Rules Of Longevity

Medical magazine American Journal of Medicine says that if you want be healthy and to live a long life you should form just four habits:
1. you should quit smoking
2. you should eat daily vegetable and fruits
3. you should look after your weight
4. you should make some physical exercises

“Healthy lifestyle is kept on these four columns”, says magazine.

Scientists investigated 15 708 of Americans aged from 45 to 64. Only 8% of them follow those four golden rules of longevity.

Also American scientists named and other most vicious habits that early destroy body - immunization disregard, unbalanced diet, sleeplessness and stress. Besides that, doctors recommend to refuse from habit of watching TV, because they consider it one of the most dangerous of habits. In the USA an average American stays in front of TV 2.5 hours a workday and more than three hours in weekends. Doctors consider that this aimless occupation puts off from useful things and destroys body that helps to live a long life.

Scientists revealed how to become a long-living person

As you known, healthy lifestyle, eating “right” food, refusal from smoking and alcohol – all those things increase longevity. But, probably, few know that these ways of cares about health can help not only lengthen life with a probability of 65-70%, and also to become a real long-living person.

A research, in which participated more than 1500 of persons over 70 years from 11 European countries, showed that in people, preferring Mediterranean food (maximum of fruits, vegetables and fish, minimum of meat and diary products - that is exactly what dietologists recommend), keeping from smoking, drinking maximum one glass of red wine per week, keeping their physical form with everyday sports minimum half an hour, the probability of death under the age of 90 goes down to 65% in comparison with average people.

It turned out that the most important factor ensuring longevity is physical activity (it lowered the probability of death on 37%), followed by refusal of smoking (35%), healthy food (23%), moderation in taking alcohol (22%). Most effectively healthy lifestyle acts upon probability of death from heart diseases, going down to 64%, blood vessel diseases (61%) and cancer (60%).

“Modern people spend great money to treat diseases that are considered age-related - ischemic heart disease, attacks, hypertension, some kinds of cancers”, said doctor Mayer Stampfler, the leader of the research, in an interview for BBC. - And why do people forget that a disease is easier to prevent than to treat? In our research participated people which just followed doctor's standard recommendations, that can do everyone. And the result is quite significant.”