The secrets to living a longer, healthier life.

Knowing how to live longer doesn’t involve any quick fixes to your health. There aren’t special vitamins or medicine that’ll guarantee a longer life. Simply put, it takes consistent, healthy practices over the course of many years to help you live longer.

Small changes to your diet or adding cardio exercise into your daily routine go a long way in helping you live a long life. 

1. Eat a healthy diet

The health benefits of eating a balanced diet are well known, however, obesogenic environments combined with the busy working week of modern society can make it difficult to prioritise eating for health.

But The earlier you start eating well, the greater the benefits to health and longevity. While eating healthily all the time is almost impossible (not to mention less enjoyable) the ideal diet for healthy aging should include:

  

   •Fruit and vegetables, the wider variety of colour the better. Eating a natural rainbow of fruit and veg provides the body with an almost endless supply of vitamins and minerals, as well as dietary fibre that keeps you fuller for longer. The class of vegetables known as legumes that includes peas, beans and lentils are especially beneficial, and eating more of them can add more than two years to life expectancy

   •Limit sugar. With the proliferation of processed food, our palates have become accustomed to the addictive taste of sugar. While it does sweeten our enjoyment of life, refined sugar found in sweets, cakes and desserts, and hidden in readymade meals, holds no nutritional value. While equally high in sugar, fruit also provides added fibre. Although challenging, try to swap your daily chocolate bar for a handful of berries or a banana, or make your own fruit salad with your favourite sweet seasonal offerings.

    •Complex carbohydrates like bread, pasta, rice and starchy vegetables (of the whole grain variety of course) form a solid basis for meals, providing energy and making you feel full. This food group differs from simple carbohydrates like white bread, pasta and refined sugars, of which too much can limit lifespan. Simple everyday swaps include choosing brown bread, pasta and rice instead of the white varieties.

2.Participate in regular, moderate physical activity

This one should come as no surprise, but staying physically active can add years to your life and keep you healthy and well. Physical activity is considered by many to be the magic bullet that ensures a healthy old age – and who wouldn’t want that?

Those living long lives generally exercise on a very regular basis, at a moderate level. This doesn’t necessarily mean always doing deliberate exercise, but includes any active movement that you participate in throughout your day-to-day life, such as gardening.

In a similar vein, studies have shown that those who live in highly walkable neighbourhoods (those with access to green space, with low pollution and appropriate and pleasant places to walk) were more likely to live longer than those without access to such places. Clearly, exercise is vital to good health and long life, and many people find it enjoyable, too.

3.Drink enough water.

While not a fountain of youth, drinking enough water everyday aids the body’s essential functions and may improve longevity. Water is the most important nutrient in the body and helps remove toxins through the liver and kidneys, carries oxygen and nutrients to cells, aids digestion, regulates body temperature as well as and helping circulation.

The optimal water intake of eight glasses per day can protect health and longevity by reducing the risk of age-related diseases like cardiovascular disease and colon and bladder cancer, so should be your go-to drink throughout the day, with meals and after exercise

4.Have enough sleep.

Every night, humans around the world slip into a mysterious state of rest known as sleep. Sleep is integral to health and getting the right amount can protect against multiple diseases and aging. We all known from experience the negative effects of a poor night’s sleep on your body the following day.

Short term sleep deprivation can be detrimental to mood, alertness and mental focus, as well as making us look older and overtired. Long term, sleep deprivation of less than seven hours per night can accelerate epigenetic aging and increase the risk of developing chronic conditions including obesity, serious mood disorders like anxiety and depression, cardiovascular diseases and impaired immune function. Less well known is that chronic oversleeping for more than nine hours can signify sleep disorders, mental health disorders and other health issues.

Consistently sleeping for 7-9 hours every night should therefore be prioritised for healthy aging, so in the liminal time before sleep read a book, take a bath or light a candle to unwind from the stress of the preceding day. While it is tempting to endlessly scroll through social media before bed, limit the use of technology immediately before sleep as this can keep your brain awake and expose you to artificial light, disrupting the body’s natural circadian rhythm.

5.Don’t smoke

Smoking is strongly linked to disease and early death 

Overall, people who smoke may lose up to 10 years of life and be 3 times more likely to die prematurely than those who never pick up a cigarette

Keep in mind that it’s never too late to quit.

One study reports that individuals who quit smoking by age 35 may prolong their lives by up to 8.5 years 

Furthermore, quitting smoking in your 60s may add up to 3.7 years to your life. In fact, quitting in your 80s may still provide benefits.

6.Moderate your alcohol intake.

Heavy alcohol consumption is linked to liver, heart, and pancreatic disease, as well as an overall increased risk of early death 

However, moderate consumption is associated with a reduced likelihood of several diseases, as well as a 17–18% decrease in your risk of premature death 

Wine is considered particularly beneficial due to its high content of polyphenol antioxidants.

Results from a 29-year study showed that men who preferred wine were 34% less likely to die early than those who preferred beer or spirits 

In addition, one review observed wine to be especially protective against heart disease, diabetes, neurological disorders, and metabolic syndrome 

To keep consumption moderate, it is recommended that women aim for 1–2 units or less per day and a maximum of 7 per week. Men should keep their daily intake to less than 3 units, with a maximum of 14 per week 

It’s important to note that no strong research indicates that the benefits of moderate drinking are greater than those of abstaining from alcohol.

In other words, there is no need to start drinking if you don’t usually consume alcohol.

7.Prioritize your happiness.

Feeling happy can significantly increase your longevity 

In fact, happier individuals had a 3.7% reduction in early death over a 5-year study period 

A study of 180 Catholic nuns analyzed their self-reported levels of happiness when they first entered the monastery and later compared these levels to their longevity.

Those who felt happiest at 22 years of age were 2.5 times more likely to still be alive six decades later 

Finally, a review of 35 studies showed that happy people may live up to 18% longer than their less happy counterparts