Life Expectancy: Adopting These Healthy Lifestyle Adjustments Can Extend Your Life Expectancy

Everyone wants to live a healthy, happy and long life, and fortunately, by making certain lifestyle changes, you may be able to extend your life expectancy. Yes, you heard that right. In fact, studies have shown that certain habits are directly linked to a long life.

While getting old is inescapable, adopting healthy lifestyle adjustments can help you age healthily and also enhance your life expectancy. In this article, we’ve listed some of the easiest things you can do to live longer, healthier, and happier.

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Extend your life expectancy by adopting these healthy habits

Get moving

Keeping yourself physically active is the best way to extend your life expectancy. (Photo via Pexels/Ketut Subiyanto)

It should come as no surprise that keeping yourself physically active can keep the muscles and joints functioning well and even add years to your life. A few minutes of exercise per day may help you attain not just physical benefits but may boost your mental health too.

Studies show that 15 minutes of workouts every day may add up to three years of life and also lower risk of early death. Research shows that exercise can reduce chances of age-related health concerns, including diabetes, heart stroke, cardiovascular disease, and even certain cancers.

Consume healthy plant foods

Consuming a large variety of plant foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, seeds, and nuts may help enhance life expectancy and reduce risk of diseases as well.

Studies have shown that a plant-rich diet may reduce the risk of premature deaths and also prevent cancer, heart disease, depression, and metabolic syndrome. These benefits are due to certain antioxidants and nutrients that these plant foods contain, such as carotenoids, polyphenols, vitamin C, folate, magnesium, etc.

Stop smoking

Smoking increases the risk of diseases such as cancer. (Photo via Pexels/Irina Iriser)

If you want to add more happy years to your life, you have to get rid of smoking. Research links smoking to diseases and early death. Studies have shown that people who smoke may lose up to ten years of their life and also become three times more likely to die early.

Overall, smoking can significantly affect your health and increase risk of diseases such as cancer, heart problems, and lung issues.

Reduce stress

Managing stress is another very important factor that's connected to your life expectancy. Excessive tension and anxiety can have a toll on your mental and physical health and disrupt your processes.

Studies show that chronic stress can increase chances of heart disease, anxiety disorders, depression, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity and can shorten your life. Fortunately, there're ways through which you can manage your stress and promote mental health. That includes practicing yoga, therapy, journaling, and communicating with your loved ones.

Follow a good sleep schedule

Proper sleep is important for your physical and mental health. (Photo via Pexels/Ketut Subiyanto)

Sleep is important for the body to recover as well as for the cells to function properly. Studies have shown that inadequate or disturbed sleep is directly linked to health conditions such as inflammation, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and cardiovascular illness. All these contribute to a shorter and unhappy lifespan.

To extend life expectancy, try to create a consistent sleep schedule by going to bed and waking up at the same time every day. However, excess sleep can also negatively impact health and increase risk of heart disease and stroke. Try to maintain a healthy balance, and aim for no more than nine hours of sleep every night.

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While life expectancy may seem beyond your control, following the aforementioned habits can help improve your quality of life and assist you in aging healthily too. Taken together, these healthy lifestyle adjustments can improve your physical and mental health and keep you on the road to a long life.