Five damaging habits that contribute to early death
Bad habits are hard to break, even when you know you aren’t doing any favors to your health. But as you age, it’s increasingly more important to avoid some of these damaging habits that studies have found linked to premature death.
Drinking sugary beverages and eating processed foods
A new study, conducted over a 34-year span and including over 118,000 participants, suggests that the more sugar people drink, they more likely they are to die from heart disease. Avoiding sugary beverages, such as soda and juice, processed sweets and breads, red and processed meats, trans fats and salts, and focusing on a diet rich in vegetables, nuts, whole grains and healthy fats has been linked to a longer lifespan. Additional benefits of this healthier lifestyle include weight loss, better mental cognition and improved heart and brain health.
Smoking
It’s no longer a surprise that smoking has been linked directly to death, causing a wide array of diseases such as heart disease, stroke, lung disease, diabetes, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. But there is good news, even for lifelong smokers – quitting, or even cutting back, can still lower risk of these diseases and increase life expectancy.
Sitting for long periods of time
Staying seated for extended periods of time is being proven detrimental to overall health – while getting up and getting moving has been proved to lift spirits, improve memory and protect against age-related cognitive decline. Any cardio activity that you can maintain for 30-45 minutes at a time is a good choice for improving both mental and physical health.
Being over or under weight
BMI can be seen as an outdated measure, not taking a number of key factors such as gender and muscle composition into account. With that being said, a recent study has shown that people who fall outside of the healthy range on the BMI scale (between 18.5 and 24.9) do face a higher risk of death from a variety of causes.
Drinking heavily
While alcohol use in moderation is okay, and even seen to have some health benefits, heavy drinking and binge drinking are a different story. Heavy drinking (8+ drinks per week for women or 15+ drinks per week for men) has been tied to a shorter life expectancy. Binge drinking (4 drinks for women or 5 drinks for men in the span of 2 hours) can be equally, if not more, harmful. Overindulgence of alcohol has been linked to cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease and injury.