Add 14 years to your life
Story By: Bea Karnes
Source: NBC
It may not be high-tech or glamorous, but in the end healthy living may turn out to be the best anti-aging strategy. A recent British study found people who don't smoke, get regular exercise, eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables a day and keep alcohol to a moderation live an average of 14 years longer than their peers with none of those behaviors.
According to the National Institutes of Aging, while Americans continue to live longer, life expectancy in the U.S. is lower compared to a number of other industrialized countries, including Canada, France and Japan.
Dr. Donald Hensrud helps direct the Mayo Clinic's executive health program. His anti-aging check-up advice includes investing in regular check-ups that include a detailed family history, heart disease, cancer and other appropriate screening tests, and advice about lifestyle changes. "The basics of not smoking, regular physical activity, eating a healthy diet, and managing weight. Those four factors can affect health more than any other factors," advised Hensrud.
Jim Kovach is a physician and C.O.O. at the Buck Aging Institute outside of San Francisco, where they are studying bugs and animals to understand aging and help offset the menu of health problems that come with it. "There are people to live to be 100. Why is that exception?" questions Kovach. A question science is starting to answer but until those answers are about people, stick to the basics.
