Ten Ways to Prolong Your Life

By Tara L. Barnes
My Life Insured Contributor

For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles. A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Is there any way to escape this fate? The answer can be as simple as get thee to the gym and swap milkshakes for salads, but there are other, more detailed guidelines to ensure that your fate isn’t wrapped up with that of your portly, balding cube mate who who thinks “gym” is a weird spelling of his drinking buddy’s name. A few tips:

Image by dalangalma [creative commons, 2.0]	1. Change your Diet: You’ve heard your mom tell you to eat your greens, and you know that choosing baked versus fried food will save you calories and fat. But choosing a balanced, low-fat diet will add years to your life. For starters, try some wild salmon – the omega 3 fatty acids present in a good chunk-o-fresh-fish help you think quick and prevent a number of killer ailments. Make sure your fish is wild, though. Farmed salmon contains up to eight times more PCBs and 3 to 10 times more toxic dioxins than wild salmon.
Image by dptlc [creative commons, 2.0]	2. Exercise and Imbibe: Yes, you can have your beer and drink it too. People who drink moderate amounts of alcohol, and who are physically active, have a lower risk of death from heart disease and other causes than people who don’t drink at all according to new research (just be sure not to replace your water intake with alcohol, because you will get dehydrated during exercise). People who neither drink alcohol nor exercise have a 30 to 49% higher risk of heart disease than those who either drink, exercise or both.
Image by ark [creative commons, 2.0]	3. Pop a Pill: Multi-vitamins may not be the be-all, end-all solution (recent studies suggest that the body doesn't take in the nutrition if pills are a replacement for food), but this doesn't mean a good vitamin or two every day won't go a long way when combined with exercise and eating right.
Image by Joi [creative commons, 2.0]	4. Catch some Zzzzz’s: It is not as important to get a certain number of hours of sleep, so much as it is to get the same amount of sleep, at the same time – day in and day out. Sleep gives your body a chance to heal and regenerate; having a stable sleeping routine will help your body take care of itself more easily.
Image by azrainman [creative commons, 2.0]	5. Ditch the Smokes: Smoking, while seemingly chic and sophisticated, can also cause various forms of cancer, as well as affect your loved ones with the dreaded second-hand smoke. Cancer risk aside, smoking can take 10 years off of your life expectancy, according to findings published in the British Medical Journal.
Image by gemsling [creative commons, 2.0]	6. Chew on Chocolate: One piece of dark chocolate a day can benefit the heart, as cocoa solids have a beneficial effect of the heart and arteries. Dark chocolate also has more antioxidants than other kinds of chocolate such as white or milk chocolate.
Image by superturtle [creative commons, 2.0]	7. What’s up, Doc?: No one likes to take time out of their busy schedule to sit in a doctor’s waiting room, but keeping up with regular physicals and annual check-ups can head any problems off at the pass, ensuring that you’re always aware of what’s going on with your body and health.
Image by [creative commons, 2.0]	8. Tie the Knot: An incredibly controversial study conducted at the University of California, Berkeley finds that people who have never married are more likely do die at all ages than people who are married and live together. The study found that the perpetually single are 5 times more likely to die of infectious disease and 38 percent more likely to die of heart disease.
Image by oskay [creative commons, 2.0]	9. Say It Ain’t So, Sugar: Avoid diabetes and live longer! Researchers at Middlesbrough General Hospital in northern England who studied more than 4,800 diabetics said the decrease in life expectancy was most pronounced in people with Type 1 diabetes, the more serious form.
Image by Jim and Dianne [creative commons, 2.0]	10. Run with Rover: Pets trigger a relaxation response, and the survival rates of heart attack victims who had a pet were 28 percent higher than those of patients who didn’t have an animal companion.

Whether you adhere to one or all of these tips, you’re taking steps down the right path to a long and healthy life.