By Dr. Franco
How to age healthily remains one of the most important and least answered questions for researchers and society in general. Many have dedicated entire careers to discover the secrets of eternal youth but have been unable to unearth them by wrongly searching for chimeras in “el dorado”.
Although eternal youth is perhaps as real as the existence of chimeras and hydras, ageing healthily is a realistic Ithaca to where we all can embark if we follow the adequate trajectory of a healthy lifestyle as demonstrated in a recent report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
A team of American and German investigators from the CDC in Atlanta and the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam gathered to evaluate factors that could help to permit a life free from major chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.
The authors identified four key factors that could substantially reduce the future risk of these deleterious conditions. These fantastic four included: I) never smoking, II) no obesity III) at least moderate levels of physical activity and IV) a healthy diet. Following these fantastic four could represent a 78% less chance of developing major chronic diseases.
Surely following the fantastic four is the adequate trajectory to a healthy life, but while following this path why conform with less, when adding three more factors could provide an even better route to our beloved Ithaca of ageing. Adequate sleep patterns, sufficient sun exposure, and no or low alcohol consumption, have also been shown to improve our chances of healthy ageing. Four might be fantastic, but seven is like heaven!
Reference:
Ford ES, Bergmann MM, Kröger J, Schienkiewitz A, Weikert C, Boeing H. Healthy living is the best revenge: findings from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Aug 10;169(15):1355-6
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