This is a combo lifestyle post mixed with a bit of science, because why not? Every moment is an opportunity for learning so lets get into it. The spotlight is on a recently published article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) titled, Healthy Lifestyle and Life Expectancy Free of Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, and Type 2 Diabetes: a prospective cohort study. From the title alone you’d probably guess that this research paper is right up my ally. I mean, who doesn’t want all that? The researchers’ primary objective was to study the impact of a healthy lifestyle on life expectancy that is free of major chronic diseases. It’s a prospective study, meaning they followed a particular group of individuals (men and women) over a time period. Their cohort pool totaled over 100K people (The Nurses’ Health Study & Health Professionals Follow-Up Study); having a large cohort helps increase the power of a study. The study began following participants in the 1980s until 2014. Participants ages ranged from 30 - 75 upon enrollment, and the researchers checked in on them every 2 years and collected data on their health and lifestyle. They found that adopting a lifestyle consisting of five specific habits increased disease free life expectancy.

The 5 Habits:

• Never Smoking

• Maintaining a Healthy Weight (BMI 18.5 - 24.9)

• Exercising at least 30 minutes daily (moderate to vigorous physical activity)

• Low Alcohol intake (women: 5-15 g/day; men 5-30 g/day)

• Eating High Quality Foods (top 40% on AHEI)

When people in the study adhered to at least 4 of the 5 habits, the changes were significant. At age 50, women who adopted 4/5 habits increased their life expectancy free of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer by about 10 years, and men increased their life expectance by about 8 years. Let’s put this another way:

Rebecca is 50 years old. She doesn’t smoke, her BMI is usually 24, she jogs semi-regularly, she drinks 1 glass of wine a night, and she eats a diet rich in plants and low in fats. She will live, on average, 34 more years without cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. That’s age 84.

Mary is 50 years old. She smokes a pack of cigarettes a day and drinks about 3 alcoholic drinks a day, but she jogs every day for at least 45 minutes and has a BMI of 19. She eats out every day, and loves junk food. She will live, on average 24 more years without cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. That’s age 74.

Imaging being in your 80s, and maintaining great health without the burden of chronic diseases, and not just living, but thriving! That is hashtag GOALS.

Personally…

I’m in my early 30s now, and I have big plans for myself and a healthy lifestyle is paramount to being able to achieve my goals. I want to maintain both mental acuity and physical functionality well into old age and I am thankful that I’m able to achieve 2 of the 5 habits without even trying:

• I’m a never smoker

• my alcohol consumption is usually 1 drink a week, oftentimes less

Things that I am actively working on:

• I have made a personal goal to exercise at least 4 times a week. Since the new year, I’ve failed at this once (I got the flu while traveling and was EXHAUSTED). Although I don’t know if I’ll ever become someone who exercises everyday, there are other things I can do to ensure I’m active for at least 30 minutes. Being active when I’m working at the hospital is never a problem, but on days that I’m at clinic, or not working. I track my steps and aim for 10K steps a day.

• Maintaining a healthy weight is important and this is going to be something different for everyone. Personally, I think BMI calculation is antiquated (muscle mass can really throw off BMI calculation) but do believe that longer leaner muscles are preferable to metabolic symdrome, obviously. I'm working on it. It’s hard. You’re not alone on the struggle-bus.

So what’s the bottom line: a healthy lifestyle, following the 5 rules above (or at least 4 out of 5), can actually help increase life expectancy, but more importantly, those added years are more likely to be disease free. The other more significant finding of this study to me is this: the cohort adopted healthier lifestyles mid-life. This means that it’s not too late to make a change. Stop the excuses, and make the decision. Be like Rebecca.