The 7 Essentials of Longevity
Mar 16, 2024
Essentials
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Welcome to issue 5! Every week, I’ll explore a longevity topic and then give a roundup of the big news in longevity.
We’re going back to basics this week – this is the most important issue you’ll read yet.
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Today's Topic: The 7 Essentials of Longevity
Longevity is about extending our healthy years, not just living longer.
Each week we write about a building block that makes up the greater story of living a healthier life.
But none of those matter if we don’t focus on the 7 essential practices that impact longevity.
These 7 things have a massive impact on the length of your life. A 34-year study of over 100,000 people found that people who were healthy in these areas were:
65% less likely to die from cancer
82% less likely to die from heart disease
74% less likely to die during the study [1]
Let’s get to the list. Here are the most important things to extend your life, ranked from most to least important:
1. Physical activity
Get enough exercise. It literally adds years to your life. “Enough” means:
3-5 hours of vigorous physical activity per week
Hiking
Jogging
Carrying heavy loads [2]
OR 5-10 hours of moderate physical activity per week
Brisk walking
Light effort cycling
Vacuuming & mopping
OR some combination of both [3]
2. Not smoking
If you don’t smoke - don’t start. If you do, quitting smoking is the single best thing you can do for your longevity.
I’m not even going to cite a source here. Smoking is bad, we all know it.
3. Eating healthy
Poor diet causes more deaths than any other risks globally. [4]
This chart shows the mortality rates associated with different diets. Where do your eating habits fall?
The bars on the left show mortality rates by “Socio-demographic Index” — broadly speaking, orange indicates wealth, and blue indicates poverty.
In moneyed America, the biggest dietary risk factor is low intake of whole grains.
The key to improving diet boils down to:
Reducing sodium (buy less processed foods & sauces)
Increasing whole grains (buy more whole grain bread, corn, oatmeal, quinoa)
Eating more fruits and vegetables
4. Maintaining a healthy weight
Maintaining a Body Mass Index (BMI) between 18.5 - 24.9 is shown to help individuals live longer.
BMI has faced scrutiny as it doesn’t consider muscle mass or metabolic health. [5]
It’s also been shown to overestimate obesity risk in black individuals and underestimate it in individuals of Asian descent. [6]
But it’s still around because it’s an easily measurable indicator of health. It helps us understand if there’s a problem that we need to investigate.
You can calculate your own BMI here.
5. Limit alcohol intake
Limiting yourself to a moderate intake of:
One alcoholic drink/day for women
Two drinks/day for men
is associated with a lower risk of diabetes and heart disease. [1]
6. Stay social
People who experience social isolation have a 32% higher risk of dying early and those who feel lonely are 14% more likely to die early. Go see your friends.
7. Sleep
Sleeping 7-8 hours a day is associated with a 13% reduction in mortality risk.
Recap
Adding small habits into your longevity routine (reducing microplastics, maintaining brain health, staying optimistic) can help you. But consider those building blocks on top of the 7 essentials:
Exercise
Don’t smoke
Eat healthy
Maintain a healthy weight
Limit alcohol intake
Stay social
Sleep
The Haul: What you can’t miss in longevity this week
Newsletters
“Aging while staying healthy is an elite preoccupation”: Paul Skallas writes on why the lives of health influencers are unattainable (not to mention seem pretty miserable)
Research
Creatine supplementation keeps seniors mobile: Loss of muscle mass in old age leads to falls, one of the leading causes of injury and death in seniors, and creatine helps sustain muscle mass
Top-down vs. Bottom-up healthcare: A dentist’s office is sorting their patients into “just fix it” versus “I want to understand”.
Active doctors make active patients: Physically active doctors are twice as likely to recommend physical activity to patients
Found some interesting longevity news? What’s your favorite podcast on the topic? Send it my way!
Thanks for reading.
– Robyn
Interested in advertising in The Long Haul? Email robyn@girdley.com today.
[1] https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.032047
[2] https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/moderate-and-vigorous-physical-activity/
[4] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)30041-8/fulltext
[6] https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-useful-is-the-body-mass-index-bmi-201603309339
DISCLAIMER: None of this is medical advice. This content is strictly educational.