[ad_1]
Scientists have revealed the top three lifestyle choices you need to make to live to 100 – and they don’t include quitting drinking or losing weight.
Chinese health experts have concluded that not smoking, increasing exercise and eating a varied diet are the most important factors in living to 100 years old.
Education, marital status and alcohol use later in life did not make a significant difference to lifespan, the researchers said.
People who live in cities are just as likely to reach 100 years of age as those who live in rural areas.
And even if you try to lose weight when you’re younger, having a higher BMI score in later life could actually help you live longer.
The oldest living person is Maria Branyas of Spain, who is 117 years old.
The world’s oldest man is British man John Tinniswood, who will turn 112 on August 26. Tinniswood has previously said that the secret to his longevity is eating fish every Friday.
Researchers from Shanghai’s Fudan University said their findings demonstrated the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle even in older age and argued it is never too late to make improvements.
Special lifestyle improvement strategies need to be developed for older people and the benefits of healthy living need to be promoted to people of all age groups, they added.
They also called on policymakers to come up with a new BMI scoring system that takes age into account and makes people aware of the benefits of being heavier in older age.
The researchers studied detailed data on 5,222 people aged 80 or older, of whom 1,454 reached age 100.
Click here to resize this module
Each subject was given a “healthy lifestyle score” (HLS) from 0 to 10 based on self-reported smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise habits, dietary diversity, and body mass index (BMI).
BMI can be calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared, which gives a rough estimate of whether you are overweight or underweight.
The study, published in the journal Jama Network Open, found that people with a higher HLS were significantly more likely to reach 100.
Those who had never smoked, always exercised regularly and maintained a balanced diet were most likely to be successful.
The researchers write: “Moderate alcohol consumption is not necessarily associated with poorer health outcomes and may have a protective effect on mortality risk in older adults with a higher BMI.”
“This raises the important question of whether assessments of healthy lifestyle behaviors need to be customized for different age groups.
“Specifically, BMI in very elderly people may reflect underlying malnutrition and other chronic diseases rather than being an indicator of lifestyle.”
[ad_2]
Source link
