People will use the excuse that they are too old, busy, or that it is too late to do anything to fix their health in fear of being discouraged if they do not get speedy results. The truth is that there is always time to better your health and your life. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health did a study that proved there are five things we all can do to give us an extra decade to live.
Eliminate Loneliness
The American Association of Retired Persons says that 40% suffer from loneliness, which leads to depression, dementia, anxiety, and cardiovascular diseases. Insufficient sleep can cause hypertension, diabetes, and obesity.
Eat a Healthy Diet
The University of Washington says that a poor diet can cause one in five deaths from high blood pressure and diabetes. The right diet consists of whole grains, fruit, nuts, and seeds.
Exercise
John Hopkins Medicine says that not exercising leads to high blood pressure and diabetes as well as mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, coronary heart disease, and cancer.
Stay at a Healthy Weight
Healthline believes that being underweight leads to malnutrition and the risk of osteoporosis, which lowers your immune system and infertility. Obesity causes asthma and bone problems.
What Does the Harvard Study Say?
This Harvard study believes that eating a healthy diet, exercising for at least half an hour every day, having a healthy body mass of 18.5-24.9, not drinking too much alcohol, and not smoking will help you live for another ten years. The study showed that those with a healthy lifestyle were 82% less likely to have cardiovascular diseases. They were also 65% less likely to have cancer compared to those living unhealthy lifestyles. 34 years of data included more than 78,000 women, and 27 years of data had more than 44,000 men. Women lived 14 more years and men lived 12 more.
Be Aware of your Bad Habits
The National Institute of Health recommends being aware of your bad habits. Ask your friends and family to help you with these challenges to gain more support. Look ahead and try to imagine your future accomplishing those goals and feeling better about yourself. Have an active social life and enough sleep. By completing these five tasks every day, you will be a new and improved version of yourself that you can be happy with.
If you want to beat addiction to keep yourself healthy, our experts at Bayview Recovery want to help. We treat a variety of addictions, including:
Located in Tacoma, Washington, Bayview Center’s mission is to offer clinically-driven programs and services to treat a number of substance abuse disorders, along with anxiety and depression, using cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical-behavioral therapy, trauma therapy, yoga therapy, and more for a successful recovery. For more information, please call us at 855.478.3650 as we are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Dr. Dave Cundiff, MD, MPH (Medical Reviewer)
