8 Healthy Habits

8 habits that could add up to 24 years to your life

The eight habits, listed in order, starting with the highest impact on lifespan, include:

• Exercising

• Not having an addiction to opioids

• Avoiding smoking

• Managing your stress levels • Adhering to a healthy diet

• Not binge drinking

• Prioritizing good sleep

• Maintaining positive social relationships

Even adding only one of the habits to your routine seems to provide 4.5 or 3.5 more years of life for men and women, respectively. Just two of the behaviors can add seven more years of life for men and eight extra years for women.

Lack of physical activity, opioid use, and smoking have the biggest impacts on lifespan with a 30% to 45% increased risk of death. Stress, binge drinking, poor diet, and poor sleep hygiene are each associated with around a 20% increase in the risk of death, and a lack of positive social relationships is associated with a 5% increased risk of death.

You can see increases when adding healthy habits in your 50s and 60s, "It is never too late to adopt a healthy lifestyle."

“Happy-Well” vs. “Sad-Sick.”

The Grant study found that there are seven habits that result in individuals being happy and well in older age rather than ending up sad and sick. George Vaillant called these two outcomes “Happy-Well” vs. “Sad-Sick.”

The seven practices that the Grant Study showed lead to happiness and good health are:

Do not smoke.

Do not abuse alcohol.

Maintain a healthy body weight.

Maintain daily exercise.

Develop an adaptive coping style (this means that you have good conflict-resolution practices).

Foster a growth mindset (invest in education or the practices of lifelong learning).

Maintain stable, long-term friendships and loving relationships.

Edwards Counseling and Coaching www.sgedwards.com