Healthy-food rule number one: no fad diets, no weird plans, just common sense. What’s the best diet? Is it keto? Paleo? G-free? Do I need to live on acai and buttered coffee? Science still hasn’t explained Keith Richards, however. A 2019 BMJ ( British Medical Journal ) study that had followed more than 110,000 people since the 1980s found that those who adopted healthy lifestyle habits such as controlling their weight, exercising and not smoking lived disease-free for far longer after age 50 (30-plus years) than people who didn’t adopt those habits (23 years). It’s not just about how long you live it’s about how well you live.
Does all this ‘healthy living’ stuff really help me live longer? My uncle ate bacon every morning and lived to age 87.
So, stick to those statins, if that’s what your physician suggests. And preliminary results from a 2022 study of more than 750 older adults found a link between high cholesterol levels and elevated dementia risk. High cholesterol, particularly LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, is still a marker for a higher risk for heart disease. Wait - I heard doctors don’t worry so much about high cholesterol anymore. Get your blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol numbers checked, and make sure that keeping them under control is a top priority. If you haven’t had a checkup in the past year, start there. The more time we perceive we have, the more we’re able to ignore the fact that we’re overweight, may have elevated inflammation levels and don’t know what our basic health numbers look like. Longevity researchers study a phenomenon known as future time perspective. At what age should I get serious about my health? Well I’m in my 50s, but honestly, I feel like I’m still young.