How To Stop The Clock And Add Years To Your Life

If scientists developed a miracle pill that guaranteed to add 10 healthy years to your life, there would be a stampede from eager customers that would make stocktake sales look tame.

Yet experts insist we already have the power to extend our life expectancy by more than a decade simply by tweaking our lifestyles, quitting bad habits and taking up positive measures. There’s no magic-bullet solution but simple changes can yield maximum results. And the good news is even after years of toxic living, you can make a big difference by acting now.

MAINTAIN A HEALTHY DIET (+3 to 13 years)
Good nutrition is vital to keep our DNA healthy and therefore stay alive longer. Folate and vitamin B12 are key micronutrients in preventing DNA damage. When the body’s blueprints are harmed, they produce poor quality cells, which multiply and expose us to an ever increasing risk of illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, infertility and degenerative diseases.

If you don’t get enough folate you could be damaging your DNA. If your DNA damage is high, you won’t live as long. It is recommended to eat foods such as wholemeal flour, leafy vegetables, liver and beans to ensure adequate folate intake.

However note that vitamin B11 found in animal-derived foods such as meat, fish, eggs and cheese, needs to be consumed with folate. One won’t work without the other. Vegetarians and vegans may need supplements.

People who have a balanced diet with enough fruit and vegetables and who don’t eat too much – so when they are full they don’t keep eating – tend to do better.

Calorie Restriction, a movement that involves following a long-term reduced kilojoule diet, has been proven to extend the lives of animals in research and may add between three and 13 years to human life expectancy.

QUIT SMOKING (+13 years)
One of the most effective ways to add years to your life is to quit smoking – the earlier, the better. Your life expectancy depends on how long you’ve been smoking. So if you give up at the age of 30, you could increase your life expectancy by 10 years. The worst thing is to be an overweight or obese smoker. At 40, you will take an average of 13 years off your life.

The benefits to quitting are immediate and your health improves over time. After 12 hours, almost all of the nicotine is out of your system, and within a month your blood pressure returns to normal. After one year your risk of heart disease is halved and 15 years your risk of heart attack and stroke is about the same as someone who has never smoked.

LOSE EXCESS WEIGHT (+7 years)
Staying within a healthy weight range is an established life preserver. This means maintaining a body mass index of about 18.5 to 25 for most adults. Overweight or obese people can expect to die an average of seven years earlier than those of normal weight.

But it’s not all bad news for those people who weigh more than they should. There are some foods, such as fruits and vegetables, that have protective factors, as does physical activity. However even a 5 to 10 per cent reduction in body weight can have big health benefits.

EXERCISE REGULARLY (+4 years)
Regular physical activity can boost your prospective lifespan by three or four years. For general health benefits, you need 30 minutes of activity a day. But to lose weight, you need one hour of moderate exercise a day. If you can’t do that to start with, you should build up slowly.

Being active prevents arteries from clogging up and helps to control blood sugar levels, cutting the risk of life-threatening illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. The good news is you don’t need to run marathons. A US study of 13,000 adults found that getting off the couch and going for a walk a few times a week will dramatically lower your risk of disease.

STRESS LESS(+3 years)
Relax and don’t sweat the small stuff. It can add up to three years to your life. Scientists aren’t exactly sure why, but people who are stressed, work too hard and skip sleep die sooner.

Stress may suppress antioxidant mechanisms in the body, leaving it unable to cope as well as normal, and therefore more vulnerable to illness.

DRINK IN MODERATION (+10 to 15 years)
As most of us know, the odd glass of red wine can be beneficial to our health. But when that glass turns
into a bottle, the effect is reversed.

Alcohol dependence can shorten our lives by a whopping 10 to 15 years by making us more susceptible to heart disease, cancer, accidents and suicide. Have no more than two drinks a day.

Alcohol can also interfere with your body’s absorption of nutrients from food. If yOu don’t get enough folate, for example, drinking can exacerbate the DNA damage.

Gary Brayshaw was one of the top realestate agents in Adelaide and is now a widely syndicated author on sites such as Business Australia.

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