Habits & Exercises For Longevity

To live a longer, healthier life, health experts recommend prioritizing regular physical activity, including exercise, as it contributes to overall health and longevity.

Although longevity typically refers to lifespan, health experts have now paired it with health span, which refers to maintaining physical and mental capabilities over a lifetime.

“The evidence is clear: Regular physical activity is one of the most powerful interventions for increasing both lifespan and health span,” Mark Kovacs, an exercise physiologist based in Atlanta who has researched longevity and athletic performance, told EveryDayHealth.com. “Exercise improves cardiovascular function, preserves muscle mass, maintains bone density, enhances metabolic health, and reduces inflammation. It also benefits cognitive function, mental health, and immune resilience.”

Strength training and squats may be particularly effective for promoting longevity:

Strength Training

Strength training is a form of resistance training that studies suggest may help you live up to four years longer. This type of exercise helps to keep your muscles strong and prevent sarcopenia, which is age-related loss of muscle mass and strength. Having lower muscle mass is associated with a greater risk of falls and may also contribute to a higher risk of dementia.

To combat sarcopenia, health experts recommend using resistance bands, which are large elastic bands available in different resistance levels. They are gentle on the joints but are just as effective as dumbbells, barbells, and weight machines at helping you gain strength.

Squats

Squats are a highly effective strength exercise because they target multiple lower-body muscles, including leg muscles that tend to weaken with age. Strong legs help you maintain balance and move independently, lowering your risk of disease, disability, and premature death.

The federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend doing squats after dinner while watching TV three nights per week. As your strength improves, incorporate additional weights or resistance bands, or try variations such as goblet squats (holding a weight against your chest with both hands) or single-leg squats.

Aerobic Exercises Boost Cardiovascular Health

Aerobic exercises are a great way to boost your lifespan because they can help reduce your chances of developing chronic conditions like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Among the best forms of aerobic exercise that support longevity are the following:

1. Brisk Walking

You can get many of the benefits of aerobic exercise through moderate-intensity activities such as brisk walking, according to Dr. Edward Giovannucci, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, who has researched the benefits of physical activity on mortality.

Studies suggest that benefits from this exercise are most noticeable for people who walk at least 7,000 steps a day. Research also shows that brisk walking can reduce your risk of dying from any cause.

To ensure your brisk walk counts toward the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week, aim for going at least 2.5 miles per hour.

2. Running

Running is a vigorous-intensity exercise that strengthens the ability of your heart, lungs, and muscles to use oxygen efficiently. This improved cardiovascular function lowers blood pressure, promotes circulation by forming new capillaries and enlarging blood vessels, and decreases inflammation—all of which help reduce the risk of chronic diseases and death.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies of over 232,000 people found that runners had a 27 percent lower chance of dying from anything, and a 30 percent lower chance of dying from heart disease compared to those who don’t run.

3. Swimming

Swimming builds cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength through water resistance. Research involving elite pool swimmers showed that swimming can strengthen your heart, boost blood circulation, and keep your blood vessels flexible. These benefits may reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Swimming is ideal for people with joint pain because it’s a low-impact exercise that doesn’t place much strain on the joints.

“If you have joint pain, especially in the lower extremities, you can even do activities like water aerobics—and those are incredibly beneficial to people with osteoarthritis that affects the hip and knee joints,” Siddhartha Angadi, an associate professor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, told EveryDayHealth.com. Angadi is also a cardiovascular exercise physiologist who has researched the relationship between fitness levels and heart disease and mortality.

Sports Are Exercises, Too

When you think of exercises that support longevity, sports activities may not come to mind. But tennis and golf can also play a role in potentially extending lifespan.

Tennis is a weight-bearing exercise that puts force on your bones, which not only helps to grow and strengthen them, but also supports mobility and function. This protects against fractures that can lead to immobility and increased mortality.

“Tennis combines speed, coordination, cardio, strength, and cognition,” Kovacs told EverydayHealth.com.
It may not look like it, but golf has numerous health benefits. For instance:

• The swinging motion helps build strength in your core and upper body.

• Carrying or pushing a golf bag adds some resistance training.

There’s also research that suggests the hand-eye coordination, problem-solving, and concentration required in golf may improve memory and thinking ability in older adults. These cognitive skills help older adults maintain their independence and reduce mortality risk with age.

Diet and Sleep Also Influence Longevity

While numerous factors influence lifespan and healthspan, health experts emphasize that you don’t need to follow all of them.

Dr. Asiya Maula, a general practitioner and functional and lifestyle medicine specialist at The Health Suite, said she follows only three habits for healthy aging and longevity: Strength training, getting quality sleep, and eating a Mediterranean diet.

Since building and maintaining muscle mass is important in the aging process, Dr. Maula told HuffPost UK she tries to “stick to at least two strength sessions a week, plus making sure I do some kind of daily movement each day, whether that be a brisk walk, some yoga or swimming.”

When it comes to getting quality sleep, a white paper from Vitality and The London School of Economics and Political Science suggested that following the 7-1 sleep rule could add four years to your life. The rule involves “seven hours of sleep per night, anchored to a consistent bedtime and falling asleep within a one-hour window (half an hour on either side.”

Dr. Maula said she tries to get at least seven hours of sleep every night, which means “sticking to a regular bedtime routine and turning off my phone at least an hour before bed each night.”

Dr. Maula told HuffPost UK that she also tries to stick to a Mediterranean diet, because it prioritizes whole foods, healthy fats and lean protein.
Studies have associated the Mediterranean diet with a longer lifespan, better heart health, and a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

“It’s also not overly restrictive, so it doesn’t feel like a diet, but becomes a way of life instead,” Dr. Maula said.

Story Links:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/habits-healthy-ageing-longevity_uk_6a3d2b1ee4b09ad68678976b
https://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/best-exercises-for-boosting-longevity/