A healthy lifestyle can add years to your life. It also improves your quality of life during those additional years. It’s never too late to adopt healthier habits, but the sooner you do so, the greater effect it has on your longevity.
A study published by the American Heart Association in 2018 focused on five specific habits you should form for a healthier life. They projected that adults who adopted all five of these habits by age 50 would live much longer lives: a further 43.1 years for women and 37.6 years for men.
Learn all about these 5 healthy habits you should start today to change your tomorrow below.
1. Stop Smoking
The single most important thing you can do for your future health is to quit smoking. Cigarette smoking causes 80,000 deaths every year in the United Kingdom alone. If you quit before the age of 40, you can reduce your chance of dying from a smoking-related disease by almost 90%.
You’ll feel the first benefits of quitting smoking only 20 minutes after your last cigarette when your heart rate and blood pressure decrease. Once you’ve quit for 10-15 years, your risk of major organ diseases returns to that of a non-smoker.
2. Eat a Healthy Diet
A healthy diet decreases your risk of many chronic diseases that shorten your lifespan like heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Choosing fresh fruits and vegetables over dried ones or juice is a great place to start.
Eat an apple instead of reaching for a glass of apple juice to get more fiber and less sugar. Cook at home and use fresh ingredients rather than getting take-out.
3. Limit Alcohol Intake
Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol can be part of a healthy lifestyle, but the key is in the word “moderate.” Most physicians recommend only one drink per day for women and two for men up to the age of 65.
Cutting down your alcohol intake reduces your risk of heart disease and diabetes. While drinking excessively (3+ drinks for women, 4+ for men) can cause stroke, high blood pressure, liver disease, and many other preventable health problems.
4. Exercise Regularly and Destress
Another healthy habit to form is exercising for at least 30 minutes every day. That doesn’t mean you need to run a 7-minute mile. Even a brisk walk boosts your heart rate and gets your blood pumping.
Exercising helps you form more muscle mass, which helps you burn more calories and stay less stressed. Stress plays a big role in many chronic health issues.
So head to a meditation class or get a massage. You can find tons of people working out of UK Therapy Rooms that won’t break the bank.
5. Maintain a Healthy Weight
Finally, you should focus on maintaining a healthy weight by moving more and eating less. Talk to your doctor about what your ideal weight range is and make a plan to get there.
A healthy weight lowers your risk of developing serious diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. It also lessens problems with infertility, snoring, and sleep apnea.
Make Forming Healthy Habits Easy
Now you should understand what healthy habits you need in order to live your best life.
Choosing a healthy lifestyle is easy when you know what habits to form and why. If you want more easy health tips, check out the African Mango Supreme blog.
Explore tons of articles covering tough subjects like their weight loss guide on balancing diet and exercise and so much more. Start making changes today so you feel excited about tomorrow!