Want to add 14 years to your life?
The experts believe that four simple changes to lifestyle habits can add years to your life ? 14 years to be exact. A study completed by researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council in the UK found that all it takes to improve your health and increase your lifespan are: eating five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, quit smoking, drinking only in moderation, and exercise (not now and then, but regularly).
The researchers spend four years (1993-1997) questioning 20,000 British citizens of both sexes aged 45 to 79. Each individual based on their lifestyle was given a score of between 0 and 4. Other tests were done and age and health conditions were taken into consideration, but ultimately, the result indicated that those persons who had unhealthy lifestyles and scored 0 were four times more likely to have died by 2006.
Most of these deaths were attributed to heart disease. They tracked the respondents until 2006 to record deaths among the group. The researchers, led by Kay-Tee Khaw found that those persons who gave up smoking made the biggest change in their health and lifespan. They claimed that quitting smoking improved health by a whopping 80 percent. The next best thing on the list was eating fruits and vegetables ? so mother was right ? eating your vegetables is good for you. Exercise and moderate drinking were found to have the same health benefit. Maybe it?s time to re-evaluate and start healthy habits, now.
