Healthy Tips for Living Longer

Healthy Tips for LIVing Longer and getting to enjoy it teo! It's not all about what's in your genes but how well you live. A study published in 2009 in the British Medical Journal of 20,000 British folks shows that you can cut your risk of having a stroke in half by doing the following four things: 1 being active for 30minutes a day, 2 eating five daily servings of fruit and vegetables, 3 don t smoke cigarettes, 4 and avoid excess alcohol. Want to live to be 100? Try these simple tips. Researchers have discovered that centenarians tend to share certain traits in how they eat, move about, and deal with stress-the sorts of things we can emulate to improve our own aging process. Of course, getting to age 100 is enormously more likely if your parents did. (Recent research suggests that centenarians are 20 times as likely as the average person to have at least one long-lived rela- tive.) Still, Thomas Perls, who studies the century-plus set at Boston University School of Medicine, believes that assuming you've sidestepped genes for truly fatal diseases like Huntington's, "there's nothing stopping you from living independently well into your 90s." Heck, if your parents and grandparents were heavy smokers, they might have died prematurely without ever reaching their true potential lifespan, so go ahead and shoot for those triple digits. Follow these 11 habits and check out Perls' lifetime risk calculator to see how long you can expect to live. 1 Don't Retire Evidence shows that people who stop working abruptly have an increased risk of putting on the pounds. Working, even part-time, is a good way to stay active. If you do retire try volunteering. Floss every day(2 Flossing daily may help keep your arteries healthy. A 2008 New York University study showed that daily flossing reduced the amount of gum-disease-causing bacteria in the mouth. These bacteria are thought to enter the bloodstream and trigger inflammation in the arteries, a major FLoss risk factor for heart disease. 3 Dont ivereat If you want to live to 100, leaving a little bit of food on your plate may be a good idea. St. Louis University researchers have confirmed that eating less helps you age slower; in a 2008 study they found that limiting calories lowered production of T3, a thyroid hormone that slows metabolism-and speeds up the aging process. 4 Move dround "Exercise is the only real fountain of youth that exists," says Jay Olshansky, a professor of medicine and aging researcher at the University of Illnois at Chicago. Studies show exercise improves your mood, mental acuity, balance, muscle mass, and bones. Turn if ilp. Turn it on ( 5 if on Having satisfying sex two to three times per week can add as many as three years to your life. Getting busy can burn an impressive amount of calories- sometimes as much as running for 30 minutes. Roguar sex may alsa lmer yur blud pressurg impluve yur sleep, bust your immunity and probet ynr heart Which would you rather do? 6 Get at least 6 hours of shut-eye Make sleep a top priority. Sleep is one of the most important 11 functions that our body uses to regulate and heal cells. For 222 older people, 6 hours is the minimum number of hours to T0 7. reap benefits from the healing REM phases of sleep 222-2 Turn off the TV Too much "couch potato"time can take a serious toll on your health. A 2010 study found that people who watched 4 or more hours a day were 46% more likely to die from any cause than people who watched less than 2hours a day. Even cutting back a little can help; each additional hour you watch increases your overall risk of dying by 11% and dying from heart disease by 18%. Eat a fiber-rich ceredl for breakfast( 8 Getting a serving of whole-grains, especially in the morning, appears to help older folks maintain stable blood sugar levels throughout the day. People who do this have a lower incidence of diabetes, a known accelerator of aging. 9 ) Eat imore whole foods & less supplements Research suggests that people who have high blood levels of certain nutrients- selenium, beta-carotene, vitamins C and E-age much better and have a slower rate of cognitive decline. Unfortunately, there's no evidence that taking pills with these nutrients provides those antiaging benefits. Avoid nutrient-lacking white foods and embrace colorful fruits and vegetables, and dark whole-grain breads and cereals. Don't worry. Be happy. (10 Centenarians don't tend to dwell on problems or internalize things, research suggests. Find better ways to manage your stress. Yoga, exercise, meditation, tai chi, or just deep breathing for a few moments are all good. Ruminating, eating chips in front of the TV, binge drinking? Bad, very bad. 11 Treat your body like a temple. hpoq anoh Be a creature of habit (12 One of the basic tenets of religion is that it's important to cherish the body that's on loan from God, which means no smoking, alcohol abuse, or overin- dulging in sweets and focusing on family and community. Centenarians tend to live by strict routines, eating the same kind of diet and doing the same kinds of activities their whole lives. 1 Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day is another good habit to keep your body in the steady rhythm that can be easily disrupted as you get older. When your routine is disrupted, your immunity can weaken, leaving you more susceptible to circulating flu viruses or bacterial infections. Reach out (13 Research shows that you're at greater risk of heart disease without a strong network of friends and family. Loneliness can cause inflammation, and in oth- erwise healthy people it can be just as dangerous as having high cholesterol or even smoking. Loneliness seems to pose the greatest risk for elderly people, who are also prone to depression. How many centenaridns were tjere in the 201IO Census? In the 2010 Census, there were 53,364 centenarians, defined as people 100 years and over. This is a 5.8 percent increase from 2000 when there were 50,454 people who were at least 100 years old. Of the total population in 2010, 1 out of every 5,786 people was a centenarian. of the total centenarian population while males made up 17.2 percent. Of the total U.S. female population, 1 out of every 3,551 fe- males was a centenarian. Of the total U.S. male popu- lation, 1 out of every 16,566 males was a centenarian. Females outnumbered males in the centenarian pop- ulation. In 2010, there were 9,162 males and 44,202 females who were 100 years and over. Females made up 82.8 percent of the total centenarian population while males made up 17.2 percent. IMale I Female Of the total U.S. female population, 1 out of every 3,551 females was a centenarian. Of the total U.S. male population, 1 out of every 16,566 males was a centenarian. Sources: http://www.usnews.com/mobile/articles_mobile/10-health-habits-that-will-help-you-live-to-100/index.html http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20366671,00.html A PAIR Infographic brought to you by: Pair Of Aces Designs ACES DESIGNS http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-09.pdf