Researchers at the University of Zurich conducted a study to establish the links between lifestyle and lifespan. A balanced diet, the practice of physical activity, low alcohol consumption and of course being a non-smoker allow you to live longer.
Cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disorders are constantly increasing in industrialized countries.
Scientists looked at the effects of four factors, smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity and excessive alcohol consumption, both individually and combined, on life expectancy and on these diseases. For the first time the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle can be represented in number. A person who smokes, drinks heavily, is physically inactive and has a poor diet has a 2.5 times greater risk of early mortality in epidemiological terms. “A healthy lifestyle can help you look ten years younger,” comments lead author Eva Martin-Diener.
Smoking, the highest risk factor
“The effect of each individual factor on life expectancy is relatively high,” explains Eva Martin-Diener. But smoking seems to be the most harmful. Compared to a group of non-smokers, tobacco users have a 57% higher risk of dying prematurely. The impact of poor diet, insufficient exercise and alcohol abuse increase mortality by around 15% for each factor.
Therefore, the probability for a 75-year-old man with all risk factors to survive the next ten years is, for example, 35%, while it is 67% for those with a healthy life. For a woman, the percentages are respectively 47 and 74%.
An unhealthy lifestyle has a lasting effect
While high alcohol consumption, smoking, poor feed and physical inactivity had little effect on the mortality of people aged 45 to 55, it has a real impact on individuals aged 65 to 75. “An unhealthy lifestyle has above all a lasting impact,” concludes Eva Martin-Diener.
