8 Ways to Add Healthy Years to Your Life

The goal of living longer is undoubtedly one to ascribe to, but only with the proviso that those added years are ones in which you are happy and healthy. Research on behavioral medicine continues to provide support for various lifestyle changes that can help you accomplish this desirable goal, but rarely are all possible factors statistically taken into account. Indeed, the true “experiment” on healthy aging is, by definition, impossible to conduct.

The latest report to emerge on the behaviors that can add healthy years to life comes as close as any one study can to providing definitive evidence on lifestyle and aging. Using data from the VA Million Veteran Program (MVP), Xuan-Mai Nguyen presented the findings at the 2023 meeting of the American Society for Nutrition.

Nguyen and her team lay out in clear numerical terms the advantages of eight lifestyle choices to contribute to a longer and healthier life. Each of these builds on the other, but statistical controls also established their independent benefits. By following as many of these choices as you can, the greater your chances of having what you might consider a “plus 24”-year effect. Even better, it’s not even necessary for you to have begun to make these changes when you were (or are) a young adult. Life can, as the expression goes, “begin at 40,” or even 50 or 60. You might not add as many years (21 years starting at 50 and 18 years starting at 60), but Nguyen maintains that you will still reap longevity rewards.

The Nuts and Bolts

Before getting to those eight key lifestyle changes, it’s important to show how the study itself was conducted. As the name implies, the MVP is designed to recruit one million U.S. veterans, and it has come close to this goal over the past 12 years since its inception. As described on its website, MVP “is a national research program looking at how genes, lifestyle, military experiences, and exposures affect health and wellness in veterans. The population who participated in this study included more than 720,000 veterans between the ages of 40 and 99 years.

One important qualification that probably jumped right into your mind was whether the study population was healthy enough to be used as the basis for making these grand conclusions about life-extending behaviors. After all, chronic disease prevalence piles up as the age of a population increases. However, the MVP research team took into account the possible effects of the most common chronic illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol levels, stroke, and cancer.

The large size of the study population also made it possible for the authors to factor in statistically relevant factors such as age, sex, body mass index, race, ethnicity, marital status, education, and income. All of these could pose threats to mortality. Because the study could not be conducted with experimental controls, these statistical controls were particularly important.

The 8 Lifestyle Factors and Their Estimated Effects

Here they are, in order of importance (percentages are based on mortality rates):

1. Exercise. You’ve certainly heard the exercise imperative many, many times. The VA study bears out its importance, ascribing a 46-percent decrease in mortality among the exercisers in its study population. Next, you ask, how much is enough? According to the study, it’s a mere 7.5 hours per week of at least some physical exertion. Go ahead, take the stairs instead of the elevator, or take a walk around your neighborhood. It all adds up, according to Nguyen.
2. Not becoming addicted to opioids. The risk of early death was reduced by 38 percent among those who didn’t use opioids, a fact that you also undoubtedly have heard already in association with the U.S. opioid crisis.
3. Never using tobacco. A 29-percent reduction in death rates accompanies a lifelong avoidance of tobacco. The bar was set very high for this measure, meaning “never,” not “former.” However, if you were a smoker, all is not lost as you still achieve a benefit by stopping whenever you can.
4. Managing stress. As is well known, stress is an important contributor to chronic diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. The mortality cost of not managing stress amounted to 22 percent in the VA study. Luckily, there are many ways to learn to manage stress once you recognize it as a factor in your life. Even more to the point, exercising itself is a great stress-buster.
5. Eating a plant-based diet. OK, so tofu isn't your thing, and there’s nothing you enjoy more than a beefy burger. There is still hope for you, as there is extensive research also documenting the value of a Mediterranean diet, which does allow you to consume some meat, but also to expand your menu to such dietary enhancements as tomatoes, pasta, whole grains, olive oil, and leafy vegetables among other tasty delights. The 21 percent decrease in mortality is consistent with findings from the “Blue Zones” (geographic areas of long-lived people).
6. No binge drinking. The idea of having “moderate” amounts of alcohol remains controversial in the medical literature, but there was no doubt in the VA study, which documented binge drinking as associated with a 19-percent increase in mortality. Sadly, although you may think of binge drinking as a problem for college students, there is a reported 11 percent of adults 65 and older whose alcohol habits fit the definition.
7. Getting enough sleep. Insomnia and a high-paced lifestyle can contribute to poor sleeping for anyone, and it comes at a cost of an 18 percent increase in mortality. The VA researchers defined good sleep as a solid 7 to 9 hours a night. Even if you can’t spare the full 9, or even 8, as long as you’re sleeping through the night, you’ll experience this longevity boost.
8. Having positive social relationships. As the last of the eight factors, social support produced a 5-percent reduction in mortality. This might seem small, but, as Nguyen concluded, “Every little bit helps, whether you pick physical activity or make sure you’re surrounded by positive social support.” Here again, you can also see how the eight factors can interact. The more you feel supported by others, the less stress you’ll experience, and you’ll be potentially less likely to use substances. In the best of all possible worlds, you could even enjoy your 7.5 hours of exercise in the presence of friends or fellow gym members, thus boosting your social support.

From Resolution to Behavior

As with any listing of ways to improve your health by diet, exercise, etc., it’s easy to write the VA study off as yet another reason to feel (a) bad about your own poor habits and (b) that it’s too late to change now. Rather than making you feel discouraged, though, this list of healthy behaviors can be very motivating. The study showed that starting with one alone (at age 40) can add 4.5 years to your life, and the benefits only add up from there.

It’s unfortunately very common for people to resolve that they’ll change and then let that new behavior fall by the wayside. Using a bit of behavioral conditioning can help you overcome this tendency to slack off. The American Heart Association calls this “habit stacking,” and it’s a pretty easy concept to understand and implement. Take a behavior you do anyway and add a small health-related activity to it. For example, do one or two exercises in your chair before you tackle your day’s work behind the desk. You can also try associating a behavior you dislike (e.g., running on the treadmill) with a behavior that you’ll enjoy, such as watching your favorite reality show TV while you’re on the move.

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Another incentive takes a little more imagination. Now that you know you can add years to your life with these habits, do some time traveling to imagine yourself as healthy throughout those later years. Would you like to travel, play golf, or just be able to keep up with your grandchildren? The habits you adopt now (whatever your age) will make these goals more achievable.

To sum up, living longer is great, but living longer and healthier is even better. Following these eight simple health-related changes can help as you seek these vital sources of fulfillment.

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