3 Ways to Improve Longevity

Most people want to extend their lifespan, but shouldn’t we think about extending our healthspan first?

Healthspan, according to Merriam-Webster, is the length of time that you are healthy—not just alive.

Extending our healthspan means compressing our worst health into the shortest and latest possible time in our lifespan. Spending most of our time able to enjoy what we love and less of our time with disease.

This isn’t happening

Unfortunately, research from the University College London highlights that this may not happen. People who are now in their 40s and 50s are more likely to have more years of ill health than people currently in their 60s and 70s. Researchers studied 135,189 people between the ages of 25 and 64 and they found that obesity and type 2 diabetes were causing younger adults to have worse long term health.

“Our study shows that, for those born between 1945 and 1980, the overall trend is towards an increasing proportion of years in poor health, with some health conditions beginning at an earlier age. This has worrying implications for healthcare services, which already face increased demand because of an aging population.”

Dr. Stephen Jivraj, University College London Epidemiology & Public Health

Three new studies published this month show how we can increase our chances of having a longer and healthier life.

Three ways to improve your healthspan

1. Get your protein from plants.

Researchers wanted to know if eating animal versus plant-based protein made a difference on longevity. The results published in JAMA Internal Medicine concluded that it does. Data from more than 400,000 adults between the ages of 50-71 shows that people who ate more plant-based proteins lived longer and were healthier. They increased their lifespan and healthspan.

2. Get moving.

While everyone will benefit from staying active, a new study has some excellent news for women over 50. Researchers studied the effects of exercise and found that for women over 50 being active is key to ageing well. Even if the women were not previously active or had a sedentary job exercise protected them from the effects of ageing.

Peter Edholm, Ph.D exercise physiologist and researcher from Örebro University says,

So a high level of physical activity in middle age can partially protect us from the negative effects on physical function and muscle mass from a sedentary lifestyle later in life. Best, of course, is being active throughout life.”

Peter Edholm

3. Meditate

Research in the American Journal of Cardiology concludes that meditation lowers your risk of cardiovascular disease. In a study of 61,000 participants, researchers found that people who meditated had lower rates of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, and coronary artery disease, compared with those who did not meditate.

The big winner was coronary artery disease with those who meditated 51% less likely to have the disease. Other cardiovascular risks were lower in the meditators with a 65% lower risk for high cholesterol, 70% for diabetes, 76% for stroke, and 86% for high blood pressure.

While the researchers state that meditation “probably” increased cardiovascular health it is also possible that people who are in better health are more likely to meditate.

3 tips for a longer healthspan

If you want to fit for life then you can’t beat these three tips for improving the time you spend healthy.

Eating plants, exercising and meditating may not increase your lifespan, but there is a good chance they will make all your days better ones.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla