Including five habits, such as eating healthy, exercising regularly, avoiding alcohol, maintaining a normal body weight and not smoking, could add years to your life, a new study has shown.
According to researchers, these healthier lifestyle changes could add about 10 years to life expectancy.
The study was led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and it analysed 34 years of data from 78,865 women and 27 years of data from 44,354 men and defined the five low-risk lifestyle factors as not smoking, a low body mass index (18.5-24.9 kg/m2), minimum 30 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous exercise, moderate alcohol intake and a healthy diet.
People who included these healthy lifestyles were less likely to die from cardiovascular disease or cancer.
"This study underscores the importance of following healthy lifestyle habits for improving longevity in the US population," commented senior author Frank Hu. "However, adherence to healthy lifestyle habits is very low. Therefore, public policies should put more emphasis on creating healthy food, built, and social environments to support and promote healthy diet and lifestyles."
The series aims to provide a "warts-and-all insight into the blood, sweat and literal tears" Getty Images
