The Lancet: 5 good habits that make people live 8-9 years longer! Research from Chinese scholars, Chinese people should read

In August of this year, Li Liming, a scholar from Peking University in China, published an article entitled “Healthy lifestyle and life” in “The Lancet Public Health”, a subsidiary of “The Lancet” Expectancy at age 30 years in the Chinese population: an observational study” related research papers.

This paper investigates the majority of Chinese subjects and finds that if you adhere to the following 5 good living habits from the age of 30, you can extend your lifespan by 8-9 years. Today, Dr. Zhang will introduce these 5 good habits to everyone, please read them by all means.

Screenshot of original text published on The Lancet

1. What is the average life expectancy in China?

National Health Commission, the “2021 Statistical Bulletin of my country’s Health Development in 2021” released on July 12, 2022 shows that the average life expectancy of Chinese residents has increased from 77.93 years in 2020. 78.2 by 2021. Each of us will be very happy to see this progress in life expectancy, but you know, it’s not the longest in the world. Looking at the world’s longest life expectancy is Japan, which can reach 83.7 years, and the second is Switzerland, which is also 83.4 years old.

We are a little bit worse than these developed countries. Where is the difference? Let me say, part of the reason is that a lot of people in our country still don’t have a good living habit. Now I will talk about the latest research of our Chinese scholars. If you can stick to the following 5 good living habits, I hope your life expectancy can be extended by 8-9 years.

Chinese life expectancy progress graph

Second, 5 good habits

1. No smoking

There was a time when smoking was a symbol of masculinity. Whether in TV works or in the real world, it seems that if you don’t smoke, you’re not a man. However, with the awakening of public health awareness, people are increasingly finding that smoking is the most embarrassing thing! Therefore, the whole society is now advocating smoking cessation.

Be sure to quit smoking

2. Don’t drink

“Drink less wine, it’s good for your health.” Tell everyone, this kind of understanding has long been old, and now the latest understanding of drinking is that drinking is very bad for the body, even if it is Just drinking a small amount is not good for your health, and the best thing for your health is not to drink.

Of course, during the festivals, every family will inevitably get together, so when the atmosphere is up, you might want to drink a little. Then you must control the amount of drinking. Now the recommendations of major guides all over the world are basically the same, that is, high-alcohol liquor is not recommended to exceed 1 tael, low-alcohol liquor does not exceed 1 tael, and red wine does not exceed 2 ounces. Two, no more than 1 bottle of beer. Of course, the best way to live a healthy lifestyle is to stay away from alcohol.

Stay healthy and stay away from alcohol

3. Healthy eating habits

Healthy eating habits are easier said than done. A common dietary problem encountered by the Chinese is that they eat too much rice, white flour, oil, salt, sugar and other foods, but not enough healthy ingredients. And Dr. Zhang briefly summarizes how to eat healthier: moderate intake of whole grains, potatoes, sea fish, lean meat, milk, nuts, tea and other healthy ingredients.

4. Insist on physical exercise

And if you want to live a long life, another very important good habit is to have a good exercise habit. For ordinary healthy adults, the current mainstream guidelines generally recommend: 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, that is, 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per day, at least 5 times a week. If you switch to high-intensity exercise, you need at least 75 minutes a week, which is 25 minutes of high-intensity exercise a day, at least 3 times a week. This exercise program has been recognized by many medical circles and health guidelines. Adhering to an appropriate exercise habit has also been proven by many medical studies to effectively reduce the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

Consistent physical activity is good for health

5. Control your weight

Good weight control is very important to maintain a healthy and long life. At the same time, good weight control can also help reduce the occurrence of chronic heart diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Generally speaking, the most commonly used indicator to measure weight at this stage is the BMI index, and the calculation of the BMI index is generally: weight (kg) ÷ height squared (m) [as shown below]. If your BMI is over 24 you are considered obese, and over 28 is considered obese. So we want to be healthy and try to control the BMI index between 18-24.

Control your weight

Three, a correct understanding of health

The above is Dr. Zhang’s introduction to these 5 healthy lifestyles, and his health status will definitely be greatly improved, just as this study published in “The Lancet” pointed out In fact, compared with people with 0-1 healthy lifestyles, people with 5 healthy lifestyles have a 63%, 53% and 70% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular death, cancer death, and chronic respiratory disease death, respectively. At the same time, if you can maintain these 5 good habits around the age of 30, your life expectancy will be extended by 8-9 years.

Speaking of which, there must be some friends who will say that the old man in their village lived 100 years by smoking and drinking. Tell everyone that there are people with extremely powerful genetics, but the probability is too low to be recommended to everyone. And many young people who insist on learning from the kind of smoking and drinking to live 100 years old are also dying and disabled at a young age. As pointed out by the World Health Organization: a healthy lifestyle is the most important factor for a long and healthy life. Among the various factors affecting healthy lifespan, lifestyle (diet, exercise and living habits) accounts for 60%, and genetic factors account for only 15%. Therefore, the secret to a long and healthy life is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Are you right?

And at the end of this article, I would like to share with you my personal experience. In fact, my grandfather is a 100-year-old old man who smoked and drank. My grandfather smoked, drank, and ate a lot of white sugar every day, but he is 91 years old and still very healthy. I don’t dare to learn from him myself, because my genes are not exactly the same as his. So, I don’t dare to live like him for the rest of my life, I still try to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I will tell you this secret, and I hope you will tell more people so that more people can get out of their health misunderstandings.

References: [1] Sun Q, Yu D, Fan J, Yu C, Guo Y, Pei P, Yang L, Chen Y, Du H, Yang X, Sansome S, Wang Y, Zhao W, Chen J, Chen Z, Zhao L, Lv J, Li L; China Kadoorie Biobank Collaborative Group. Healthy lifestyle and life expectancy at age 30 years in the Chinese population: an observational study. Lancet Public Health. 2022 Aug 1:S2468-2667(22)00110-4. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(22)00110-4.