How to live longer? This question torments many people around the world. Depending on the geographical areas, life expectancy varies, the latter being higher than the average in the “blue zones”, which include the island of Okinawa in Japan or the province of Nuoro in Sardinia. If in France, thelife expectancy amounts to 85.7 years for women and 80 years for men, according to the latest figures from INSEE, the number of centenarians has continued to increase for several decades in France, as recalled by the National Institute of Demographic Studies.
Recently, British researchers have looked into the benefits of a healthy lifestyle on the body. They noticed that adopting certain habits such as eat healthy, not smoking or practicing regular physical activity helped reduce the risk of premature death. Their results are published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
Longevity: following a healthy lifestyle could reduce the risk of premature death
To arrive at these results, the researchers based themselves on a panel of 353,742 people registered with the UK Biobank (in the United Kingdom) and the LifeGen cohort (in the United States). The researchers ranked them based on their polygenic lifespan score, a tool for determining the likelihood of lifespan. The researchers added data on adherence to a healthy lifestyle, defined as practicing regular physical activity, having a normal build (a BMI between 18.5 to 25), get enough sleep, eat a healthy diet and not smoke. The follow-up duration spanned an average of 13 years.
Over the period, 24,239 deaths were recorded by researchers. According to them, people who had a low polygenic score were 21% more likely to die younger than others, regardless of their lifestyle. The authors also noted that people who were furthest from a healthy lifestyle were 78% more likely to die prematurely.
Get enough sleep, don’t smoke… Researchers’ advice to increase life expectancy
On the other hand, researchers found that a healthy lifestyle could offset the genetic risks of premature death by 62% in people at risk. More precisely, the researchers specify that “people presenting high genetic risk to see a shortened life expectancy could extend their life expectancy by almost 5.5 years at the age of 40 with a healthy lifestyle”. However, the researchers emphasize that this is an observational study and cannot establish a cause and effect link.
In their conclusions, the researchers noted that four factors could increase life expectancy, namely:
- it is no smoking ;
- practice a physical activity regular;
- get enough sleep;
- have a Healthy eating.
However, some limitations of the study were noted by the researchers, such as the difference in life expectancy between the United Kingdom and the United States or only having participants following the Western lifestyle. Also, the researchers call for new research on the subject.
Source :
- FREEGenetic predisposition, modifiable lifestyles, and their joint effects on human lifespan: evidence from multiple cohort studies – British Medical Journal (BMJ)
