Stress, poor diet, smoking or inappropriate social relationships – these are half of the factors that increase the risk of premature death, identified by American scientists. Researchers found that those who followed the eight habits they identified lived an average of 20 years longer than those who did not follow any of these recommendations.
The results of this study, scientists from Carle Illinois College of Medicine, were presented at Nutrition 2023, a meeting of American nutritionists. As “Freedom” explains, researchers analyzed questionnaires containing questions about eating habits and lifestyle collected from nearly 720,000 people from 2011-2019. People.
Eight dangerous habits
Based on the respondents’ answers, the researchers identified eight habits that have a negative impact on life expectancy. They found that three of them increased the risk of early death by 30-45 percent. These habits include: low levels of physical activity, cigarette smoking and use of opioids. Another four factors – living under stress, drinking too much alcohol, poor diet and poor sleep hygiene – increase the risk of early death by 20%. In turn, lack of proper social relationships increases this risk by 5%.
The results of the study indicated that men who avoided the eight negative habits identified by the researchers lived an average of 24 years longer than those who did all of them. For women, the difference was slightly smaller at age 21.
“We were really surprised at how much you can gain by following one, two, three or all eight recommendations,” said Dr. Xuan-Mai Nguyen, a nutritionist and one of the authors of the study. “The sooner we get rid of these habits, the better,” Nguyen added, but “even a small change in your forties, fifties, or sixties can pay off.”
See also: How much fat should you eat? How much vegetables and fruits to eat? There are new WHO guidelines
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