The Long Haul: The 7 Essentials of Longevity
Welcome to issue 5! Every week, I’ll explore a longevity topic and then give a roundup of the big news in longevity. We’re going back to basics this week – this is the most important issue you’ll read yet. (Were you forwarded this email? Please subscribe here.) Today's Topic: The 7 Essentials of LongevityLongevity is about extending our healthy years, not just living longer. Each week we write about a building block that makes up the greater story of living a healthier life. But none of those matter if we don’t focus on the 7 essential practices that impact longevity. These 7 things have a massive impact on the length of your life. A 34-year study of over 100,000 people found that people who were healthy in these areas were:
Let’s get to the list. Here are the most important things to extend your life, ranked from most to least important: 1. Physical activity Get enough exercise. It literally adds years to your life. “Enough” means:
2. Not smoking If you don’t smoke - don’t start. If you do, quitting smoking is the single best thing you can do for your longevity. I’m not even going to cite a source here. Smoking is bad, we all know it. 3. Eating healthy Poor diet causes more deaths than any other risks globally. [4] This chart shows the mortality rates associated with different diets. Where do your eating habits fall? The bars on the left show mortality rates by “Socio-demographic Index” — broadly speaking, orange indicates wealth, and blue indicates poverty. In moneyed America, the biggest dietary risk factor is low intake of whole grains. The key to improving diet boils down to:
4. Maintaining a healthy weight Maintaining a Body Mass Index (BMI) between 18.5 - 24.9 is shown to help individuals live longer.
BMI has faced scrutiny as it doesn’t consider muscle mass or metabolic health. [5] It’s also been shown to overestimate obesity risk in black individuals and underestimate it in individuals of Asian descent. [6] But it’s still around because it’s an easily measurable indicator of health. It helps us understand if there’s a problem that we need to investigate. You can calculate your own BMI here. 5. Limit alcohol intake Limiting yourself to a moderate intake of:
is associated with a lower risk of diabetes and heart disease. [1] 6. Stay social People who experience social isolation have a 32% higher risk of dying early and those who feel lonely are 14% more likely to die early. Go see your friends. 7. Sleep Sleeping 7-8 hours a day is associated with a 13% reduction in mortality risk. RecapAdding small habits into your longevity routine (reducing microplastics, maintaining brain health, staying optimistic) can help you. But consider those building blocks on top of the 7 essentials:
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Found some interesting longevity news? What’s your favorite podcast on the topic? Send it my way! Thanks for reading. – Robyn Interested in advertising in The Long Haul? Email robyn@girdley.com today. [1] https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.032047 [2] https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/moderate-and-vigorous-physical-activity/ [4] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)30041-8/fulltext [6] https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-useful-is-the-body-mass-index-bmi-201603309339 |
