All You Need to Know About Living a Longer Life.
I've been writing about longevity, disease prevention, and seeking longer life for more than five months now and I've yet to really put the pieces together on how to live a longer life so I thought it was high time that I did just that. Sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and sink into your favorite chair and open your mind. You’re about to learn how to live a longer life in about 5 minutes worth of reading.The Joys of a Longer Life
Generally speaking living a longer life is a good thing if you are in good enough health to enjoy it. In these days medicine has gotten so good that we can keep people alive far longer than they can really enjoy. This brings the cost of healthcare up and makes people nervous about being too old. I say forget all of that because living a longer life does not have to be so dramatic; it can be enjoyable. By remembering just a few basic health secrets and maybe with just a little luck, you should be able to achieve a longer life than average quite easily.How to Live a Longer Life
Happiness for LongevityThere are a few components to longevity that seem to be universally noted by study after study. Studies which are both informal and clinical in nature routinely find that people who are generally positive and have a good outlook on life live longer.
You can capitalize on this by simply living your life as a happy person. How do you do this? It’s very personal but I always find that treating other people as VIPs helps. Eventually you start to feel really good about all the good you do and all the people you've helped along the way. The great thing is treating others well is typically reciprocated.
Another simple way to be happy and positive is to place great importance and value on your family. It seems counterproductive sometimes as family can sometimes be stressors but on average those people who value and are very close to their families, generally live a longer life.
Lifestyle Choices Lead to Longer Life
Often this is the most obvious element to longevity and yet it is often the one (or at least one of the) top reasons people do not live longer. On average smoking kills people 14 years earlier than everybody else. It leads to lung cancer, COPD, emphysema, etc. It also is a leading cause of heart disease and diabetes which are both high on the leading causes of death list. Just eliminating or avoiding smoking will let you live longer. It will give you a longer life and a more enjoyable life as you will be more like to be healthy in your old age.
Excess of alcohol is another obvious risk factor that does not lead to longer life. Yes, it does lead to longer life if it is used in moderation, but in excess it leads to accidents, heart disease, cancers, and to the general breaking down of the body. How many alcoholics do you see that look young? Not many I would guess. Cut back and you will live a longer life.
Many other lifestyle choices promote longevity and long life. Seat belts are one. You should use them. Drive defensively. Be careful when taking part in accident prone activities. Accidents are still one of the leading causes of death and if you avoid them you will be more likely to live a longer life.
The Longevity Diet
Over the past decade or so it has become increasingly clear that your diet has a lot to do with longevity. It has been shown that mice will live a longer life (roughly 30 percent longer) if they are fed a diet that is 30 percent lower in calories than a normal diet. The same findings of longevity can be said for large primates as this has even been substantiated in chimpanzees; the closest blood relative to humans.
How many really old obese people do you see walking around? Not many. If you want to live longer keep your calorie count low. You don’t have to starve yourself just keep it low. Normal daily calorie intake seems to be in the 2000 range. A 30 percent drop would be 600 calories less per day leaving you with a daily intake of 1,400. If you want to live longer this is probably a good start. If this is too extreme for you shoot for a 15 percent reduction instead. It can't hurt.
Other dietary considerations consist of upping the intake of all fruits and veggies for their nutritional and disease fighting attributes, eating more beans and legumes for their fiber and protein, and greatly increasing the consumption of fish. Eating fish is consistently suggestive of greater longevity in research and it is probably safe to assume you will live a longer life if you eat it more often.
The reason of course: Fish leads to longer life because of their high levels of fatty acids. The omega-3s if you will. Living a longer life should come automatically with more of these omega-3s circulating in your blood. They have been shown to protect against diseases of seemingly all kinds. Interestingly enough wine drinkers typically have more circulating omega-3s in their blood stream so drinking a glass of wine daily should help keep them their too.
To expand on drinking wine for increased longevity let me further implore you to add wine to your diet. Resveratrol has been shown to have incredibly high concentrations in wine and it has been closely linked with disease prevention and cultures who tend to live longer. If you want to live a longer life, drinking a glass of wine a day should be mandatory as it covers two completely different schools of thought.
Physical Activity: Conducive to Longer Life
This is the longevity tip that nobody want to hear but it is so important. You have to stay active if you want to live longer. There are few people who live long lives stuck to a couch and not owning walking shoes. People who live longer are typically on their feet more often and working physically every day.
You do not necessarily have to go to the gym and work out every day but you do have to get up and move around. The human form evolved around physical labor and only in the most recent generations have we had the luxury of sitting down and relaxing all day every day if we choose. Even those of us who are “working hard” are often not physically working hard. We sit at desks for hours upon hours. We drive everywhere and we moan when there’s not a parking spot up close. We go crazy when we have to go up more than a single flight of stairs, and the thought of walking one block to go anywhere is out of the question.
This is what I’m talking about: sloth. If longer life is the goal then longer life will only come to those who stop complaining and start seeking these opportunities to stay active in normal everyday mundane life. Walk the store with a shopping basket in hand rather than a cart. Park far away. Walk to the stores from your home if you can. Stop with the coffee break and walk around the block instead. Take the stairs. Walk the dog a block further than normal. There are so many areas of your life where you can add physical activity into your routine. Longer life does not come with sitting around and waiting for old age. It happens when you use your body and keep it in shape. And you know what? When you get bored, sure, the gym aint half bad either.
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