You visualize yourself aging gracefully and living a long, healthy life filled with joy, happiness, family, friends, and plenty of fun.
However, this is something that is not easy to pull off.
You don’t just sit in your backyard and decide to live a long, healthy life, thinking that life expectancy is defined by genetics.
Even though genes play a small role in determining how long one will live, their impact is much less compared to diet and environmental factors.
If you want to live a longer life and look over your children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, below are a few habits you should adopt.
1. Eat lots of nuts
If you want to live a longer life, you need to eat nuts in abundance.
As a nutritional powerhouse, nuts are armed with antioxidants, beneficial plant compounds, fiber, and protein, copper, vitamins, magnesium, potassium, niacin, and folate. All this in one food!
Research shows that nuts prevent an array of lifestyle diseases such as metabolic syndrome, inflammation, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and various types of cancers.
A recent study shows that individuals who eat a minimum of three servings of nuts per week have a 39% lower risk of mature deaths than those who don’t.
Make sure you add a few nuts in your meals, and you can rest assured that you will live to see a few of your generations.
2. Work out!
Working out regularly can keep you fit and healthy, and add a couple of years onto your lifespan.
Well, exercising doesn’t mean that you spend four hours a day in the gym, or you run a half marathon every morning, like if you were a horse preparing for the Kentucky Derby.
Surprisingly, research shows that 15 minutes of body activity daily can help achieve immense benefits, which include adding 36 months to your life. That’s a whopping three additional years!
With regular exercise, your risk of premature death reduces 4%. Also, working out keeps off an array of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases, and many more, hence improving your quality of life.
3. Avoid smoking
In case you still feel that smoking is cool, you need to reconsider your thoughts.
Smoking has been linked to diseases and early death for time immemorial. If you smoke, you are three times more likely to die prematurely than those who don’t.
Also, we cannot forget to mention that smoking deprives you of a whopping ten years of your life. You read it right; you could lose up to 10 years of you continue smoking!
A study revealed that those who quit smoking by the age of 35 could prolong their life by nearly nine years.
Quitting smoking is not as difficult as you think. Seek help from counselors and your peers, and you will soon find yourself living a long, disease-free life!
4. Drink alcohol with moderation
Of course, it’s not easy to compel you to quit your favorite wine, beer, or whiskey. Therefore, take alcohol with moderation if you want to live longer.
Research links heavy alcohol intake to a myriad of diseases, including pancreatic cancer, heart disease, and liver cirrhosis. Also, it is linked to an early death.
If you drink alcohol in moderation, you can reduce your likelihood of premature death by 18%.
Scientists prefer wine to other types of alcoholic drinks because it contains polyphenol antioxidants, which guards against neurological disorders, metabolic syndrome, and heart disease. However, keep its consumption moderate!
5. Avoid stress and anxiety
Stress and anxiety are major factors that contribute to premature death.
A study shows that women suffering from anxiety and stress are two times more likely to die from stroke, lung disease, and heart disease than others.
Also, men suffering from chronic stress have a higher risk of dying earlier than those who don’t.
In case you are feeling stressed or anxious, don’t let it escalate to depression. Find someone to talk to and prioritize your happiness.
Have a positive outlook on life, and this will reduce the stress you have and prolong your life.
In conclusion, spice up all the above habits with happiness. Being happy can increase your lifespan. A study shows that happy individuals have an 18% chance of living a longer life than those who are often moody and unhappy.
When you are happy, you will face life with positivity; thus, you will be able to adopt the other strategies outlined above. This is the only secret to a long, healthy life!