Since ancient times, human beings have never stopped pursuing health and longevity. In ancient times, in order to pursue longevity, Emperor Qin Shihuang sent Xu Fu to Penglai for fairy medicine; Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty was addicted to pills; There are also many people who love to eat jade. Even in the novel, there are ginseng fruit, flat peach, and even "Tang Monk meat" and other foods that can make people live forever. Nowadays, with the development of science, human beings know more about life span and death. Although the secret of longevity has not been fully mastered, scientists have found that there is a simple secret to longevity - a healthy lifestyle.
Recently, a new study published in age and aging shows that a healthy lifestyle is associated with a lower risk of death and longer life expectancy. More importantly, this is true even among people over the age of 80 or with chronic diseases.
The new study comes from Japan, the country of longevity. The researchers analyzed data from the Japan collaborative cohort study (JACC), which included 49021 participants. The average age of participants was 56.8 years, and 43.7% were men.
The researchers counted the lifestyle information of participants in the previous year, including diet, physical activity, smoking status and alcohol consumption. Participants are considered healthy if their eight lifestyles meet the following criteria:
Fruit ≥ 1 time / day, i.e. eat fruit at least once a day or at least 7 times a week;
Fish ≥ 1 time / day, i.e. eat fish at least once a day or at least 7 times a week;
Drink milk almost every day;
Exercise regularly, walk at least 0.5 hours a day, and exercise at least 5 hours a week;
Healthy body weight with body mass index (BMI) in the range of 21.0 kg / m2 – 25.0 kg / m2;
Do not smoke, never smoke or have quit smoking;
Do not drink alcohol, or drink a small amount of alcohol, alcohol intake ≤ 46.0 g / day;
Healthy sleep, the daily sleep time is 5.5 hours - 7.4 hours.
In addition, the researchers also counted the education level, stress, and the history of cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes and other chronic diseases.
During an average follow-up of nearly 20 years, 9865 participants died, including 5824 men and 4041 women.
After excluding other factors, the researchers found that a healthy lifestyle was associated with a lower risk of death and longer life expectancy. The more healthy lifestyles, the greater the impact on death and life expectancy.
Among men, compared with participants with only 0-2 healthy lifestyles, participants with 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7-8 healthy lifestyles had a 12%, 15%, 32%, 40% and 47% lower risk of death, respectively.
Among women, compared with participants with only 0-2 healthy lifestyles, participants with 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7-8 healthy lifestyles had a 3%, 26%, 33%, 38% and 44% lower risk of death, respectively.
Healthy lifestyles are also associated with longer life expectancy. For example, at the age of 40, the remaining life expectancy of male and female participants with 7-8 healthy lifestyles was 46.5 years and 51.3 years respectively, which was 5.3 years and 6.2 years longer than that of men (41.2 years) and women (45.1 years) with only 0-2 healthy lifestyles.
The potential impact of healthy lifestyles on life expectancy continues to reach people aged 80 and over. Even at the age of 80, male (14 years) and female (14.3 years) participants with 7-8 healthy lifestyles had 4.4 and 2.2 years longer remaining life expectancy than men (9.6 years) and women (12.1 years) with only 0-2 healthy lifestyles.
▲ remaining life expectancy at different ages for male and female participants with different numbers of healthy lifestyles. (data source: reference [1 ]; drawing: Wuxi apptec content team)
The results also show that even with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension and diabetes, a healthy lifestyle will have an impact on life expectancy. The more healthy lifestyle, the longer the remaining life expectancy.
▲ among patients with chronic diseases of different genders, compared with participants with 0-2 healthy lifestyles, participants with 3-5 and ≥ 6 healthy lifestyles have an increased number of years of remaining life expectancy. (data source: reference [1 ]; drawing: Wuxi apptec content team)
In addition, even with a variety of chronic diseases, the adoption of more healthy lifestyles will have a beneficial impact on life expectancy.
For example, at the age of 50, if participants with one, two and at least three chronic diseases have only 0-2 healthy lifestyles, the remaining life expectancy will be 34.3 years, 30.8 years and 25.3 years respectively, while those with at least six healthy lifestyles will have 41.2 years, 39.2 years and 34.0 years respectively, and the life expectancy will be extended by 6.9 years, 8.3 years and 8.7 years respectively.
Finally, the study stressed that life expectancy depends on many factors, such as economic level, medical care, and lifestyle. Previous studies have found that a healthy lifestyle is associated with a lower risk of death and longer life expectancy. The study not only adds new evidence to this, but also highlights the continuing potential impact of healthy lifestyles, whether in people aged 80 or older or with chronic diseases, on their life expectancy, and the more healthy lifestyles, the greater the benefits.
Since this study is observational, it only shows the impact of lifestyle on life expectancy, not causality. Moreover, the research also has some limitations, which may affect the research results. For example, a small amount of drinking is also considered to be a healthy lifestyle, but many studies have found that even a small amount of drinking is harmful to health and increases the risk of cancer.
Professor Hiroyasu ISO of Osaka University, the corresponding author of the study, pointed out that more healthy lifestyles are directly related to life expectancy for men and women, which has increased by more than six years for people aged 40.
"Even among the elderly (aged 80 or above) and people with one or more chronic diseases (including cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and kidney disease), this benefit is significant. At present, the prevalence of chronic diseases has increased globally and is the main cause of death among the elderly. Therefore, the findings of this study are expected to provide a way for patients with chronic diseases to prolong their life and bring more survival opportunities." , Professor Hiroyasu ISO added.
reference material
[1] Ryoto Sakaniwa， et al。，（2022）。 Impact of modifiable healthy lifestyle adoption on lifetime gain from middle to older age。 Age and Ageing， DOI： https：//doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afac080。
[2] How taking ownership of your health can help you increase your lifespan。 Retrieved May 18 ，2022，from https：//medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05-ownership-health-lifespan.html