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It's Never Too Late To Live Healthy
Even after 70,
healthy habits pay off by helping you live longer
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Medical News
If
that New Year's resolution isn't working out, don't
worry. New research shows it's never too late to
adopt healthy habits that can help you live longer.
A
new study shows that men who led a healthy lifestyle
in their 70s were more likely to live into their 90s
and have a better quality of life. And a related
study shows that people who live to be 100 don't
necessarily do it by avoiding disease entirely, but
by not becoming disabled by them.
Researchers say studies of twins have shown that
genetic factors account for just 25% of the
variation in life span, and that these findings
reinforce the importance of the other 75% affected
by lifestyle factors within people's control.
Healthy Lifestyle Helps People Live
Longer
In
the first study, published in the Archives of
Internal Medicine, researchers followed 2,357 men
who were part of the Physicians' Health Study. The
men were evaluated when they started the study at
about age 72 and were surveyed at least once a year
for the next two decades.
Overall, 970 men survived to age 90 or beyond.
Researcher Laurel B. Yates, MD, MPH, of Brigham and
Women's Hospital, and colleagues estimated that a
70-year-old man who did not smoke, had normal blood
pressure and weight, no diabetes, and exercised two
to four times a week had a 54% chance of living to
age 90.
But
for each of these common health risk factors, the
chances of living to age 90 were reduced as follows:
-
Sedentary lifestyle, 44%
-
High blood pressure, 36%
-
Obesity, 26%
-
Smoking, 22%
Having three of these risk factors drastically
reduced the odds of surviving to age 90 to 14%, and
having five risk factors dropped the chance to just
4%.
Secret of Centenarians
In
the second study, Dellara F. Terry, MD, MPH, of the
Boston University School of Medicine and Boston
Medical Center, and colleagues studied 523 women and
216 men aged 97 or older.
Researchers split the participants into two groups
based on gender and the age they developed diseases,
such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood
pressure, dementia, stroke, chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD), osteoporosis, and
Parkinson's disease. If they developed disease at
age 85 or older, they were considered "delayers,"
and those who developed disease at a younger age
were called "survivors."
The
results showed that 32% were survivors and 68% were
delayers. But researchers found that those who
developed heart disease or high blood pressure
before age 85 and still survived to 100 had similar
levels of function as those who developed disease
later.
Researchers say the results suggest that the timing
of disease may not be as important in living longer
as how the disease affects people's health, which is
mitigated by lifestyle factors.
©
WebMD. All rights reserved.
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A 70-year-old man who did not smoke, had normal
blood pressure and weight, no diabetes, and
exercised two to four times a week had a 54%
chance of living to age 90. |
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