HOW TO LIVE 20YRS LONGER
IT’S SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN!
GETTING things in balance is the key to a long life, reckon experts.
Since 2015, life expectancy has failed to improve. It’s stuck at 79 years for men and 82 for women.
But it’s now believed that just 10% of disease is down to our genetics – the remaining 90% is dependent on our lifestyle.
Medics think making small changes to nutrition, movement, relaxation and sleep is the key to holding back the years.
Dr Rangan Chatterjee, the presenter of BBC One’s Doctor in the House, inset, said: “So much is influenced by lifestyle and environment, which is incredibly empowering.
“‘Health’ has become far too reductionist – we’re often seeking a magic pill or miracle diet, but the reality is, neither exists.
“We should go back to basics and take a much more rounded view by covering several areas, especially relaxation, nutrition, movement and sleep.
“The key to living a longer, healthier life is maintaining balance across all of them, rather than perfection in just one.”
It is a concept backed by US long-life specialist Dr Peter Attia.
After the birth of his children, Dr Attia became increasingly interested in how he could live a longer life and see his little girl and boy grow up.
The physician left his roles in surgery and medical research to focus on doing just that.
He said: “If the question is, ‘how do I live longer?’ That turns into, at least to me, a hard question to answer.
“If the question is, ‘when and how am I likely to die?’ All of a sudden, that seems more manageable.
“If you know how and when, roughly, you’re going to die, when you have that understanding, you then ask the question, ‘OK, how can I improve on that?’”
Dr Attia studied people aged over 100 and found there was something in their genes which had delayed the onset of chronic disease – a leading cause of death in modern times.
He found 70 to 80% of deaths are linked to three main factors – heart disease, cancer and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzeimer’s.
Dr Attia reckons that “the science of longevity” therefore lies in making lifestyle changes to delay these diseases ourselves and beat the genetic lottery.
He said: “We can control that by eating a certain way. I can control that by exercising a certain way, sleeping a certain way, managing stress a certain way, and so on. That’s your toolkit, basically.”
You can find out more about his eight lifestyle “levers” for a longer life below. Dr Chatterjee also believes that you can make simple changes to enhance your chances of living longer.
He said: “I know changing habits can be hard, but if you begin small, and with the right mindset, you truly can transform your wellbeing.
“Stress negatively impacts your health. Even a five-minute daily practice of stillness can help lower the stress hormone cortisol, which will positively influence your health.
“There is plenty of conflicting advice on what we should eat for optimal health. It’s not always just about what you eat, but when.
“The benefits of a 12-hour eating window include improved blood sugar balance, stronger immunity and weight loss.”
Dr Chatterjee added: “We’ve been conditioned to view exercise as something we do at specific times in specific venues, yet it ought to be part of our everyday life.
“Plenty of us are sleep deprived, yet we often inadvertently do things during the day that compound the problem.
“Looking at screens and smartphones at night prevents your levels of melatonin, the sleep hormone, from rising because of the blue light they emit.
“I recommend switching off all gadgets 90 minutes before bed.”