Longevity via a healthy lifestyle

We can all learn something from the long-lived Okinowans. The Okinawa diet and lifestyle – carotene-rich veggies, seaweed, calorie restriction.

 

A healthy lifestyle is living as one’s life matters, which means:

• exercise
• not getting fat
• not smoking
• eating healthy (no junk)
• minimizing alcohol
• get outside for some highly beneficial (moderate) sun exposure
• prioritize sleep
• being social
• being kind and generous
• optimistic.

This study involved over 135,000 UK adults and found that adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors such as not smoking, regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, consuming a healthy diet, getting adequate sleep, keeping blood pressure and glucose levels in a healthy range, and having healthy cholesterol levels can significantly improve cardiovascular health and overall well-being. Participants with high cardiovascular health scores lived an additional 7-9.5 years free of chronic diseases, regardless of socioeconomic status.

 

Not using tobacco products, being physically active, eating a healthy diet, getting the right amount of sleep, managing weight and controlling blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol levels can provide an extra 10 healthy years of life.

 

Face-to-face contact releases a whole cascade of neurotransmitters and, like a vaccine, they protect you now, in the present, and well into the future, so simply […] shaking hands, giving somebody a high-five is enough to release oxytocin, which increases your level of trust, and it lowers your cortisol levels, so it lowers your stress.

 

Researchers who have studied the inhabitants of so-called Blue Zones around the world — places with a high number of SuperAgers who live to ripe old age while maintaining good health and cognitive function — have noted that while other elements related to diet and lifestyle varied widely, they all appeared to be dedicated to being highly socially active.

Moderate sun exposure can be a life saver

Exposing skin to sunlight may help to reduce blood pressure, cut the risk of heart attack and stroke – and even prolong life. An analysis of information on 29,518 Swedish women who were followed for 20 years revealed that longer life expectancy among women with active sun exposure habits was related to a decrease in heart disease and noncancer/non–heart disease deaths. These benefits outweigh the threat of skin cancer.

 

Roger Seheult, MD explains, in this video, that it is the near-infrared portion of the sun’s spectrum that provides the awesome benefits of sun exposure. Infrared light can penetrate light clothing, such as a shirt. Near-infrared light is strongly present even in cold weather.

Get outside

This review of 52 Japanese studies showed that being in a natural environment can benefit blood sugar, blood pressure, stress, immunity, chronic inflammation, and longevity. These benefits are mediated by outdoor aromas, the beauty, the feeling of openness. There is a positive association between exposure to urban green space and the perceived general health of residents. Living in areas with accessible green spaces for walking also increases the longevity of senior citizens, independent of age, sex, marital status, baseline functional status, and socioeconomic status.

Aging is a biological process which we cannot stop, but we can delay decline. It all depends on how we behave throughout our lives. A healthy lifestyle including polyphenols and methyl donor foods, as well as exercise, can reverse epigenetic age by 2-3 years.

 

Keep color on your plate, minimize meat consumption, and fast daily.

 

Foods that activate the NRF2 pathway are super. Such foods may even help one beat COVID-19.

 

As a general rule, what is good for heart health is good for brain health. Getting regular exercise, eating well and maintaining a healthy weight all promote a healthy brain.

Image from Health matters: midlife approaches to reduce dementia risk. Public Health England. 22.03.2016

A 2019 Lancet Commission on dementia prevention ranked smoking as third among nine modifiable risk factors for dementia.
A recent review of 37 research studies found that compared to never smokers, current smokers were 30% more likely to develop dementia in general and 40% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Analyses of earlier studies suggested the risk may be even higher than that. A large study carried out in Finland found that people who smoke heavily in midlife more than double their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia two decades later.

 

Dr. Mike Hansen: smoking and ultra-processed food consumption is responsible for most cases of stroke.

 

Dr. Brad Stanfield and Dr. Gil Carvalho explain it well here.

 

WebMD explains again: quality sleep, don’t smoke, be careful of getting too much sun, moisturize skin, eat healthy, wear sunglasses, keep a social network, watch your blood pressure, be generous of your time, do medical checkups, and exercise daily.

 

A slim lifestyle involves eating a good breakfast, water before meals, building exercise into your day, turning off the TV, and making sleep a priority.

 

WebMD: A slim lifestyle involves not rushing meals, healthy meals, no junk/bacon, small portions, and limit alcohol.

Keeping physically healthy can help protect against memory loss and dementia. The NIA recommends regular aerobic exercise, and a healthy diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.

 

In addition, getting the right amount of sleep, socializing, minimizing stress, and keeping health conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes under control will help reduce the risk of cognitive decline.

Robust health matters for keeping one’s marbles

Given the multifactorial aetiology of dementia and late-onset Alzheimer disease, multidomain interventions that target several risk factors and mechanisms simultaneously might be necessary for an optimal preventive effect.

 

Cell-extrinsic changes in the systemic environment, mediated by blood, have recently been shown to contribute to brain dysfunction with age. Ageing, the most significant risk factor for AD, has a profound impact on the peripheral system, including inflammation, immune cell skewing, increased levels of ageing-related factors, and reduced levels of youth-related factors. Approximately 40%–60% of brain-derived Aβ is cleared by the peripheral organs and tissues, and enhancement of peripheral Aβ clearance can decrease brain Aβ deposition and prevent AD pathogenesis.

This video by Dr. Brad Sanfield (with multiple references) points out the powerful effects of lifestyle on preventing cancer. Those lifestyle factors include no smoking, clean air, limit alcohol, eat a variety of veggies for fiber and to stay slim, no junk food, control blood sugar, and exercise.

 

Dr. David Katz explains the core elements of a healthy lifestyle. He explains that a healthy lifestyle means exercise, a plant-based diet, avoid smoking, adequate quality sleep, minimize stress, enjoy love. At least 80% of the total burden of chronic disease would be eliminated. Poor diet is the single leading cause of premature death.

 

The results of 23 meta-analyses published between 1994 and 2021, which include 1,187 longitudinal and cross-sectional studies with more than 1,458 million participants are highly consistent with regard to the predicted link between social support and reduced disease and mortality.

 

This excellent answer on Quora says that a healthy diet like a Mediterranean diet combined with regular exercise does indeed reduce your LDL cholesterol, improves your cholesterol ratio and reduces heart attacks and strokes. The reduction of heart attacks is in the order of 40% to 50% when a healthy diet is combined with regular exercise.

 

A healthy lifestyle can increase one’s supply of dopamine.

 

This study of 17,209 older study participants showed that healthy choices (no smoking, high leisure-time exercise, low-to-moderate alcohol consumption, adequate sleep and a high-quality diet) were individually associated with an 11-25% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

 

This study of 11,000 adults in Brazil found that those who ate the highest amounts of ultra-processed foods had a faster rate of decline in their thinking skills on standard tests than those who ate the lowest amounts of these unhealthy foods.

Dr. Dean Ornish points out, in this video, sums it up: Move more, eat well, stress less, love more. This can stop or reverse the progression of:

• coronary heart disease
• early-stage prostate cancer
• type 2 diabetes
• hypertension
• hyperlipidemia
• obesity

This is because these diseases have many of the same underlying biological mechanisms

• chronic inflammation
• chronic sympathetic nervous stimulation
• microbiome & TMAO
• oxidative stress
• inappropriate apoptosis
• angiogenesis
• inappropriate gene expression
• telomere shortening
• dysfunctional immune system

Here are supporting references pointed out by Dr. Ornish:

 

This study of 23,153 German participants aged 35 to 65 years from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study, concluding that adhering to 4 simple healthy lifestyle factors can have a strong impact on the prevention of chronic diseases.

 

In this study of 78,865 nurses and 44,354 physicians who never smoked, had normal BMI, moderate activity, moderate alcohol, and high diet quality score had an 82% lower risk of dying from heart disease, 65% lower risk from cancer, and a 74% lower risk from all causes.

 

In this study of 592 571 participants it was found that a diet characterized by healthy plant-based foods was associated with lower risk and severity of COVID-19.

 

This (Harvard Medical School and King’s College, London) six-country study of almost 600,000 health care workers with frequent exposure to COVID-19, concluded that plant-based diets or pescatarian diets were associated with lower odds of moderate-to-severe COVID-19. These dietary patterns may be considered for protection against severe COVID-19.

 

This study of 48,440 adult patients found that consistently meeting physical activity guidelines was strongly associated with a reduced risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes among infected adults.

 

Dr. Ornish’s lifestyle heart trial: This was a study of intensive lifestyle changes compared to the usual care. Dr. Ornish talks about it here. In this lifestyle intervention there was a 91% reduction in the frequency of angina in 24 days. There was a 400% improvement in coronary blood measured by PET scans after 5 years. 99% of patients stopped or reversed their heart disease as measured by cardiac PET scans after 5 years. In contrast, 45% of controls got worse, 50% showed no change, and only 5% improved. There were 2.5 times as many cardiac events in the control group as in the lifestyle group after 5 years.

Here is a later summary of the above study. These intensive lifestyle changes can be maintained.

Can lifestyle changes reverse prostate cancer? Here is a study.

 

Environmental factors, such as maternal lifestyle, including diet and level of physical activity or sedentary time, may also be associated with epigenetic modifications that can alter gene expression.

Moderate Sun Exposure will increase Longevity

Exposing skin to sunlight may help to reduce blood pressure, cut the risk of heart attack and stroke – and even prolong life.

 

An analysis of information on 29,518 Swedish women who were followed for 20 years revealed that longer life expectancy among women with active sun exposure habits was related to a decrease in heart disease and noncancer/non–heart disease deaths.

 

Dr. Seheult MD explains the longevity benefit of moderate sun exposure clearly in graphs.

Thoughts and feelings are important

A pessimistic explanatory style, as measured by the Optimism-Pessimism scale of the MMPI, is significantly associated with mortality.

 

Optimism helps people cope with disease and recover from surgery. Even more impressive is the impact of a positive outlook on overall health and longevity. Research tells us that an optimistic outlook early in life can predict better health and a lower rate of death during follow-up periods of 15 to 40 years.

 

This study of 73,485 women showed that higher optimism is associated with maintaining vigorous physical activity over time in post-menopausal women, and may protect women’s health over the lifespan.

Optimism helps people cope with disease and recover from surgery. Even more impressive is the impact of a positive outlook on overall health and longevity. Research tells us that an optimistic outlook early in life can predict better health and a lower rate of death during follow-up periods of 15 to 40 years.

 

Cultivating a positive attitude can increase your resistance to disease and even delay the aging process. Your beliefs and rules about life and work determine how you interpret events and therefore your attitude. Adopt beliefs that create a positive attitude (like “any day above ground is a good day”) rather than a negative one (like “life sucks and then you die”).

 

Optimism is demonstrated by super-agers.

 

Beauty can be found everywhere.

 

Gratitude is associated with greater well-being. That sentiment and those benefits can be cultivated. Those who recorded things that had made them grateful had an improved sense of well-being, slept better and more, felt a greater sense of optimism and connectedness to others.

 

Dr. Roger Seheult, Md has a wonderful video on forgiveness. “A lot of people think that thoughts are out of our control, but that has been shown not to be true. People who harbor resentments and feelings of anger have been shown clearly to have bad health, and specifically cardiovascular disease. Forgiveness leading to empathy and understanding is linked to reduced anxiety, depression, major psychiatric disorders, fewer physical health symptoms, and lower mortality.

 

The mind has an amazing ability to change and heal the body.