How to Live Longer: 12 Life-Boosting Habits to Start Now
Written by TYE Medical on Jan 11th 2024
Scientists have opened doors deep into the mysteries of genetics and much focus has shifted to this arena. But when it comes to life expectancy, researchers are finding that it has a much smaller impact than lifestyle. This means that your diet, activity level, and other details about your daily life play a much bigger role in how long you’ll live.
If you want to extend your life and live to the fullest, you’ll want to ditch some of the old habits that are knocking years off your life. When you add it all up, it can be a notable difference in your life expectancy. Replace your tendencies with these life-boosting habits that can help you live long.
1. Monitor Calorie Intake
When it comes to food, more isn’t better. Researchers have found a link between calorie intake and life expectancy. According to animal studies, reducing your normal calorie intake by 10-50% could increase your lifespan.
The percentage is key, because it depends on how many extra calories you’re eating in a day. It’s important that you eat at least the minimum required calories to maintain good health. And the number will depend largely on your age, gender, and activity level. Not everyone can cut their calories by 30-50% and remain healthy.
The animal research is further backed by studies on people groups with long life spans. Their lower calorie intake made them less susceptible to disease. A big reason for this may be that restricting calories helps promote weight loss, including stubborn belly fat. Both are linked to shorter lifespans.
It comes down to balance. Calorie restriction can keep off excess body fat and increase life expectancy but only within reason. Severe, long-term calorie restriction can actually damage your health and shorten your lifespan.
2. Eat Nuts Regularly
Nuts are way underrated in many circles. And some diets even want you to avoid them because of their fat content. But they can help prevent heart disease, inflammation, high blood pressure, excess belly fat, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and some types of cancer.
One study even found that eating a minimum of three servings of nuts per week lowered the risk of premature death by 39%. Additional research suggests an even greater impact on health, finding that one serving of nuts per day lowered the risk of mortality from all-causes by 27%.
3. Incorporate Turmeric
Turmeric, a spice long-used in India, contains a key “bioactive” compound called curcumin that has powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Some research indicates it’s beneficial for brain, heart, and lung function, while also protecting against age-related diseases and cancers. Some research shows a link between curcumin and a longer life.
Curcumin may also help prevent diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, and inflammatory diseases.
4. Eat a Plant-Based Diet
If you eat a diet rich in plant foods like vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, beans, and whole grains you may lower disease risk and add years to your life.
Not only can eating a plant-based diet help you avoid premature death, but it can also lower your risk of heart disease, cancer, depression, metabolic syndrome, and brain deterioration. Most of the benefit is credited to the antioxidants and nutrients in plant foods. Key nutrients include vitamin C, folate, carotenoids, and polyphenols.
5. Stay Active
Adding years to your life can begin with just 15 minutes of intentional activity per day. If you’re over 60, even if you workout less than the recommended 150 minutes per week, you may still lower your risk of premature death by 22%. After age 60, exercise has an even greater impact on extending your life. And it doesn't require an enormous time investment.
If you’re new to exercise, consult with your doctor about any limitations your health may require. Starting small with just 15 minutes of intentional exercise per day can go a long way toward improved health and a longer life.
6. Don’t Smoke
This should be obvious but is worth mentioning. Premature death and disease are much more likely for smokers. In fact, if you smoke, you may shorten your life by up to ten years. While it’s never too late to quit, doing so before the age of 40 nearly means your risk factors for premature death and disease due to smoking drops to nearly nothing. But regardless of your age when you stop smoking, you will add years to your life.
7. Avoid Alcohol
If you drink alcohol be sure to keep your consumption moderate or avoid it altogether. Heavy drinking can cause diseases of the heart, liver, and pancreas while also making you more likely to die prematurely. But “heavy” use may not be as much as you think.
Experts consider moderate alcohol use to include up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men. “Drink” is defined by serving size. Servings sizes are:
- 12 oz of beer
- 5 fl oz of wine
- 1.5 fl oz liquor
If you want to keep your health and extend your life, you’ll need to seriously limit your alcohol consumption or abstain completely. In other words, if you don’t drink, don’t start.
8. Be Happy
Staying positive and finding contentment in life are key to happiness, and feelings of happiness help you live longer. Many studies suggest that you can live up to 18% longer if you’re a happy person.
Keep in mind that this isn’t superficial and fake happiness. If you want to gain years, you’ll need an internal transformation so that you feel happy. This will require some quiet reflection and consideration of what is important to you. What in your life should change and needs to change? What is siphoning off your happiness? Is it worry? Stress? How can you address these issues? And many people turn to their faith and spiritual beliefs as they answer these questions and seek value in life that can help them experience authentic joy.
9. Avoid Anxiety and Chronic Stress
Stress and anxiety have a large and direct impact on how long you live. Women suffering from anxiety or stress are twice as likely to die from stroke, heart disease, or lung cancer. But men are three times as likely to die prematurely when they live a stressful, anxious life as compared to more relaxed men.
Being happy and managing stress go hand-in-hand. And just like searching for roots of unhappiness requires reflection, so does finding sources of stress and anxiety. Consider what makes you feel stressed on a regular basis and seek solutions. Sometimes, the answers may be drastic, like changing careers, retiring sooner than you planned, or addressing weakness in your character or lifestyle. If a large source of stress is a relationship, then it might be time invested in mending or severing that relationship. Sometimes it might be seeking financial advice when money becomes a chronic stressor.
As you address the sources of your anxiety and stress, try to move toward an attitude of optimism and seek out opportunities to enjoy life and laugh. Negativity can draw you into a pessimistic state of mind. Research shows that people with a chronic pessimistic attitude are 42% more likely to die prematurely.
10. Be Social
It’s long been known that isolation and chronic loneliness is unhealthy. But research suggests it's an even bigger problem, actually significantly shortening your lifespan. Keeping healthy social networks can increase your survival odds by up to 50%.
But having social ties can also keep you healthier while you’re here and improve your quality of life. It can have a positive impact on your brain, heart, hormonal, and immune functions. This decreases your risk for developing chronic diseases.
11. Be Conscientious
In other words, be a little more Type A. These personalities are more organized, efficient, self-disciplined, and goal-oriented. These are all ways that you can be more “conscientious”. Of course, you can’t change your personality, nor should you. And all personalities have their negative aspects. However, we can learn from each other. And those individuals who are a bit more put together in the sense of self-discipline and organization may find that these strengths ward off unnecessary stress.
If you find that a lack of organization, self-discipline, and efficiency are creating undue anxiety in your life, striving to improve in these areas can be a huge help.
Aside from adding years to your life, developing conscientious traits can also lower blood pressure and the risk of diabetes and joint problems. It also helps prevent certain mental health conditions.
If it seems a bit overwhelming to you, you can start small. You can begin with something simple like creating a schedule, focusing on punctuality, or tidying up your workspace or hobby area.
12. Get Quality Sleep
In terms of sleep quality equals healthy patterns. This means not only getting enough hours of sleep but going to bed and waking at the same time daily. This helps to establish regular sleep patterns and improves quality of rest.
But it’s still crucial that you get enough hours of sleep. Getting too little or even too much can be notably detrimental to your health. It’s serious. Check out these stats:
- Sleeping less than 5-7 hours per night can increase risk of premature death by 12%.
- Sleeping too little can increase inflammation and your risk for diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.
- Sleeping more than 8-9 hours per night can shorten your life by up to 38%.
- Excessive sleep can decrease physical activity, cause depression and other health conditions.
Instead, aim for 7-8 hours of sleep each night and establish a regular schedule for when you go to sleep and wake.
Do What You Can
Ultimately, no one can control how long they live. But you can adopt habits that give your body and mind what they need to optimize health and longevity.
Adopting a plant-based diet, scheduling exercise, reducing stress, increasing organizational habits, and getting quality rest can play a huge role in maximizing life span. Abstaining from smoking and alcohol while finding joy in life and maintaining social connections are additional ways you can benefit your long-term health and boost your well-being.
When practicing several of these habits in combination, you have the potential to make a serious impact on your health and live longer.
