5 habits that could help you live longer

Leading causes of death

Data from the Center for Disease Control shows that heart disease and cancer are the top 2 causes of death in the US. Researchers from Harvard University analyzed data on diet, lifestyle and medical history for over 120,000 people and found some common habits that are linked to living longer. In fact people who had all the habits were 65% less likely to die from cancer and 82% less likely to die from heart disease. Not only that but people who had all the habits lived between 12 and 14 years longer than those who didn’t!

The habits

The habits that are linked to living longer and lower chance of heart disease and cancer are:

• Healthy diet.
• Regular exercise.
• Healthy body weight.
• Not smoking.
• Moderate drinking.
• Healthy diet

Scientists at Yale reviewed over 100 clinical studies and they found that the best diet is to eat “real food.” The USDA’s “Choose My Plate” recommends you fill half your plate with plants (fruit and vegetables.) The simplest way to eat real food is when you serve your meal make sure half of it is vegetables – then eat those first. You can also borrow a trick from the Scandi Sense Diet and fill your plate with two handfuls of vegetables, one handful of protein and one handful of carbohydrates.

Regular exercise 

The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of exercise five times a week to improve cardiovascular health. They say that the 30 minutes can even be split in to two 15 minute sessions.
In addition to improving heart health, exercise has also been shown to:

• Help with weight loss.
• Lower stress.
• Boost mood.
• Increase energy.

Healthy body weight

People who maintained a healthy body weight lived longer. Healthy body weight is relative to height and calculated with the Body Mass Index. A person with a BMI over 25 is considered to be over weight.

Not smoking

There are 235,000 new cases of lung cancer and 155,000 deaths from lung cancer every year in America. 85% of lung cancer cases were caused by smoking. Smoking kills.
Smoking is an addiction and it is best to seek help when quitting.

Moderate drinking 

The last habit is to drink in moderation. This is defined as one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men. Drinking small amounts of alcohol has actually been shown to have some health benefits – but the key is not too much. Drinking too much has negative affects on your brain, liver, pancreas and immune system. The drinking recommendations are per day and should not be saved up.