We all want to live life to the fullest and longest, right?
Well, this video will look at the lifestyle factors
that may enable us to do just that. Check it out.
"How to Increase Your Life Expectancy 12 to 14 years"
A pivotal paper published in Europe more than a decade ago
entitled “Healthy Living Is the Best Revenge” found that
adhering to just four simple healthy lifestyle factors
compared to none could potentially have a strong impact
on the prevention of chronic diseases;
we’re talking nearly 80 percent less chronic disease risk,
slashing diabetes risk by 93 percent,
dropping heart attack risk by 81 percent,
and cutting stroke risk in half, and cancer by 36 percent.
Think about what that means.
The potential for preventing disease and death is enormous.
In the U.S. alone every year, there are half million
heart attacks, half million strokes, a million new cases
of diabetes, and a million new cancer diagnoses.
The message is clear: adopting a few healthy behaviors
can have a major impact.
What are those four fabled factors?
Never smoking, not being obese, averaging about a half hour of
exercise a day, and adhering to healthy dietary principles,
like lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and less meat.
Follow those four simple rules and boom!
Enjoy nearly 80 percent reduced risk of major chronic diseases.
What does that mean for mortality risk?
A similar batch of four healthy
behaviors combined predicted
a four-fold difference in total mortality,
with an estimated impact equivalent to 14 years
in chronological age, meaning the individuals were dying at
such a reduced rate that it was as if they were 14 years younger.
“Finally, a Regimen to Extend Human Life Expectancy.”
This commentary was in reference to this study,
where a similar analysis of the impact of healthy
lifestyle behaviors on life expectancies was made,
but this time it looked directly at the U.S. population,
which is particularly important, since Americans have a
shorter life expectancy compared with residents
of nearly all other high-income countries.
The researchers concluded that adopting a healthy lifestyle
could substantially reduce premature mortality
and prolong life expectancy in U.S. adults.
Okay, but by how much?
They estimated that adherence to a low-risk lifestyle
could prolong life expectancy at age 50 by 14 years
in women and 12.2 years in men.
So, if you’re 50 right now, instead of only living to 79
if you’re a woman, and 75½ if you’re a man,
taking even just basic care of yourself could propel you
to an average life expectancy of 93 if you’re a woman
and 87½ if you’re a man.
The bottom line is it’s never too late to turn back the clock.
A midlife switch just to the basics, like at least
five servings fruits and vegetables a day,
walking even like 20 minutes a day,
maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking
results in a substantial reduction in mortality
even in the following few years.
We’re talking a 40 percent lower risk of dying
in the subsequent four years.
So, making the necessary changes to adhere to a healthy
lifestyle could be considered extremely worthwhile,
and middle age is certainly not too late to act.
As an aside, realizing the 12 to 14 years of added life
study was based on data from health professionals,
that got me excited about all the potential knock-on effects.
If health professionals start getting healthier,
they could become role models for more healthful living
and potentially save more lives than just their own.
But that may have just been wishful thinking.
Practicing what you preach can sometimes backfire.
Evidently, “displays of excellence can paradoxically turn off
the very people they are trying to inspire.”
You’d assume that not being a hypocrite and trying
to walk the walk would just lead to positive consequences,
inspiring confidence in others, right?
Don’t you want a dance instructor who can dance, a music teacher
who can play, a health professional who’s healthy?
But this simple intuition fails to take into account
concerns about making other people feel inadequate.
Like you know how vegetarians are the targets of a
surprising amount of hostility and ridicule.
That’s because they may come off as morally superior
and make people feel like they’re being looked down upon.
There was an elegant demonstration of this phenomenon
in this study where “Principled deviants who take
the high road threaten others’ moral self-worth.”
This is what they did. Research subjects were asked
to complete a racist task by an experimenter,
and those moral rebels who refused to obey were cheered
by observers but were disparaged by participants
who had themselves gone through with it,
and for whom the rebel’s stance thus implied an indictment
of their spinelessness. Isn’t that interesting?
So, when doctors portray themselves as “the picture of health,”
patients might think they’re being holier-than-thou and
unintentionally alienate people, potentially turning off
the very patients who most need their help.
You can see how someone with a weight issue might feel
threatened and judged by a physician triathlete.
But what are we supposed to do?
We want healthy practitioners.
Physicians who smoke are less likely
to tell their patients to quit smoking,
physicians who are overweight
are less likely to counsel their patients about weight,
and physicians who don’t work out
are less likely to talk about exercise.
What we can do to make patients more comfortable
is emphasize that our role is to help people
meet their own personal health goals, whatever they may be.
Studies show that when doctors do this, take this approach,
it increases the appeal of fitness-focused physicians
to overweight patients.
So, we can then display exemplary behavior
while at the same time not inadvertently alienate
the very people who could benefit most from our guidance.