Healthy Lifestyle May Improve Longevity Even If You Are Already Old.
September 4, 2012 —It may never be too late to lead a health lifestyle !
A healthy lifestyle may improve longevity even if you are already a geezer, according to a population-based cohort study published online August 30 in the British Medical Journal.
Lifestyle, social networks, and leisure activities all have an effect !
Age at death was 1.0 year younger in the current smokers than in nonsmokers. However, survival in former smokers was similar to that of never-smokers, suggesting that smoking cessation in middle age could lessen the effect of smoking on mortality.
Physical activity, such as regular swimming, walking, or gymnastics, was the leisure activity most strongly linked to longevity. Those participants who regularly engaged in these activities had a median age at death 2.0 years older than participants who did not.
So regular workouts could add years to your life. Two of them !
The investigators defined a low-risk profile as healthy lifestyle behaviors, taking part in 1 or more leisure activity, and having a rich or moderate social network. They defined a high-risk profile as unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, no leisure activities, and a limited or poor social network. Compared with participants who had a high-risk profile, those who had a low-risk profile had an increase in median survival of 5.4 years.
"Even after age 75 lifestyle behaviours such as not smoking and physical activity are associated with longer survival," the study authors write. "A low risk profile can add five years to women's lives and six years to men's. These associations, although attenuated, were also present among the oldest old (≥85 years) and in people with chronic conditions."
BMJ. Published online August 30, 2012. Full text
A healthy lifestyle may improve longevity even if you are already a geezer, according to a population-based cohort study published online August 30 in the British Medical Journal.
Lifestyle, social networks, and leisure activities all have an effect !
Age at death was 1.0 year younger in the current smokers than in nonsmokers. However, survival in former smokers was similar to that of never-smokers, suggesting that smoking cessation in middle age could lessen the effect of smoking on mortality.
Physical activity, such as regular swimming, walking, or gymnastics, was the leisure activity most strongly linked to longevity. Those participants who regularly engaged in these activities had a median age at death 2.0 years older than participants who did not.
So regular workouts could add years to your life. Two of them !
The investigators defined a low-risk profile as healthy lifestyle behaviors, taking part in 1 or more leisure activity, and having a rich or moderate social network. They defined a high-risk profile as unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, no leisure activities, and a limited or poor social network. Compared with participants who had a high-risk profile, those who had a low-risk profile had an increase in median survival of 5.4 years.
"Even after age 75 lifestyle behaviours such as not smoking and physical activity are associated with longer survival," the study authors write. "A low risk profile can add five years to women's lives and six years to men's. These associations, although attenuated, were also present among the oldest old (≥85 years) and in people with chronic conditions."
BMJ. Published online August 30, 2012. Full text