Active Elderly Live a Long Life

Adopting a healthy lifestyle can help elderly people who are in their 70s lead a long life.

A research done in elderly people in their mid-seventy and above have showed that refraining from smoking, exercising regularly and indulging with friends and family can result in long life.

Prepare For Old Age
Women need to start as early as possible to prepare for a healthy old age, claim researchers at the University of Newcastle and University of Queensland in a joint study.

The study was published in BMJ and involved about 1,800 volunteers who were observed for 18 years from mid 1980’s.

By resorting to health-promoting habits, the average life span of females was enhanced by five years and that of males by six years.

The study is first of its kind to recognize specific lifestyle behaviors related with increased life span, in spite of chronic health problems.

Diseases Related to Old Age
Ageing is referred to the accumulation of changes that brings a person closer to death.

The scientists from Sweden’s Karolin The Scieska Institute and Stockholm University said, “Our results suggest that encouraging favorable lifestyle behaviors even at advanced ages may enhance life expectancy.”

The study concluded that physical activity is the biggest predictor of longevity. People who exercised regularly lived an average of two extra years as compared to people who resorted to sedentary lifestyle. Thus, Healthy Behaviors=Long life and it is never too late to shift to healthy habits.

Quiz on Ageing
There are several myths associated with ageing and one such myth doing the rounds is that pain is a part of growing old. Is there a grain of truth in this? To find out, participate in this quiz.

Source-Medindia

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