How to Live a Long Life

Prepare your body for a long life by exercising. Exercise benefits both your physical and mental health. The physical activity strengthens your body, helps you control your weight, and improves your balance and coordination. Simultaneously, your body releases endorphins which will help you relax and feel good. Endorphins can also reduce pain and improve your mood.

·         Try to do both aerobic exercise and strength training.

·         Aerobic exercise gets your heart rate up and improves your endurance. Possible activities include jogging, fast walking, swimming, and many types of sports. Try to do 75 to 150 minutes per week.

·         Strength training, like weight lifting, will improve your bone density and build muscle. Try to do it two times per week.

Be proactive about identifying and treating health problems. Preventative care is important for identifying health problems before they become a major concern. It is also important to identify lifestyle factors, familial history, and work exposures that may lead to the development of a disease or dysfunction. If you skip doctor’s appointments, you increase the chances of not catching a developing health problem right at the start. This means that it will likely be more complicated and harder to treat.

·         Have a checkup once a year. If your doctor recommends other screenings, do them.

·         If you have a chronic condition, talk to your doctor about how to manage it to either improve it or prevent it from getting worse.

·         Know what health problems may run in your family and get screened regularly.

Avoid high-risk behavior. Accidents, including during sports or driving, are frequent causes of head trauma and spinal cord injuries.

·         Drive carefully, wear your seat belt and obey speed limits.

·         Use caution when crossing the street as a pedestrian. Look both ways to see if there are any cars around.

·         Wear appropriate protective and safety gear when playing sports, particularly risky sports like football, horseback riding, rock climbing, bungee jumping, skydiving, skiing, and snowboarding.

Avoid toxic substances. It is important to avoid substances that may increase your chances of developing health problems. This includes pollutants, pesticides, chemical fumes, and asbestos.

Avoid excessive alcohol intake. If you do drink, daily recommendations are that women should drink no more than one drink per day and men no more than one or two drinks per day.^[4]

·         Drinking alcohol in low amounts should be ok for your health as long as you are healthy and don’t overdo it.

·         Excessive drinking can make you more likely to get cancers of the digestive tract, heart problems, strokes, high blood pressure, liver disease, and to suffer injuries in accidents.^[5]

·         If you do drink, be careful not to mix alcohol with medicines, including over-the-counter medicines, that may interact.

·         Don’t drink and drive.

Quit smoking and using nicotine products. Even if you’ve smoked or used other nicotine products for many years, quitting will still improve your health and help you live longer. Smoking greatly increases your risks of:

·         Lung diseases, including cancer

·         Cancer of the esophagus, larynx, throat, mouth, bladder, pancreas, kidney, and cervix

·         Heart attacks

·         Strokes

·         Diabetes

·         Eye disorders like cataracts

·         Respiratory infections

·         Gum disease