RULES FOR LIVING LONGER
1 Caffeine, especially from traditional sources, may have protective, anticancer properties. Moderation is key.
2 Smiling triggers the release of painkilling, brain-happy endorphins and serotonin.
3 Uncomfortable shoes cause unnecessary inflammation that can have an impact on your entire system. Inflammation has been linked to heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer, autoimmune diseases, diabetes and accelerated ageing.
4 Agus advises readers to “track your movement during the day with an accelerometer, and develop a daily personal activity target”. Being sedentary is about as bad for you as smoking, he says.
5 Wash your hands regularly, especially after exposure to ‘germy’ items such as bathrooms and raw chicken.
6 When you live with someone else, you have a reason to pay more attention to your health and hygiene. You’ve got another person to hold you accountable for your actions and lifestyle habits. And you’re more likely to have a built-in system for coping with stress. Which might explain why happy cohabitating couples repeatedly score better on blood-pressure tests than their single counterparts. And... People with children are more likely to live longer than their childless counterparts.
7 To reap the benefits of exercise, including all those biochemical reactions that take place to lower your risk of illness and keep your body humming, aim for breaking a sweat and getting your heart pumping fast for a minimum of 15 minutes a day.
8 Owning a dog demands that you maintain a relatively constant and reliable timetable, tending to the animal’s ritualistic feedings, walks and naps. In other words, it has the overall effect of forcing set patterns that foster health – namely sticking to a regular schedule.
9 Cold-water fish, such as salmon, sardines, tuna, trout, anchovies, herring, halibut, cod, black cod, mackerel and mahi-mahi, are excellent sources of high-quality protein, healthy fats and naturally occurring vitamins and minerals.”
10 “For a long time we thought statins were targeting only cholesterol... but statins have the power to change the whole environment by lowering inflammation - a biological process that can run amok and trigger all kinds of illnesses.”