Lifestyle Triifecta: Exercise, Diet and Healthy Weight, Pays Off Big With Longer Life

It’s possible that faithful readers will not be surprised to learn that people who exercise, watch their weight, eat healthful food, and  don’t smoke live longer than people who do not do all of the above. Well, it’s true, and it’s now documented by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health. The school reports that researchers analyzed data from 77,782 women, who responded to questionnaires about lifestyle and
health conditions over a 24-year period, beginning in 1980. During the
follow-up, 8,882 deaths were recorded, including 1,790 from cardiovascular
disease and 4,527 from cancer. For
individual factors, the researchers found that 28 percent of deaths could be attributed to
smoking, 14 percent to being overweight, 17 percent to lack of physical activity, 13 percent to an
unhealthy diet and 7 percent to not having light-to-moderate alcohol consumption (one
drink a day or less for women). For nonsmoking women, 22 percent of deaths could be
attributable to being overweight. Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption was associated with lower
cardiovascular mortality; higher consumption (two or more drinks per day) with
an increased risk of cancer mortality. And for those who did everything right, the payoff was more impressive. The scientists estimated that 55 percent of deaths from all causes,
44 percent of cancer mortality and 72 percent of cardiovascular mortality during follow-up
could have been avoided if participants had never smoked, engaged in regular
physical activity, avoided becoming overweight and ate a healthy diet.

Read more from the Harvard School of Public Health.