There is steady interest — from everyday people to researchers alike — in what it takes to live a long, healthy life. From cookbooks to research papers to the hundreds of articles you can access with a quick Google search, the amount of information to digest and advice to take in can get overwhelming.
But there are simple approaches you can take and easy changes to implement if you’re hoping to live to 100.
For nearly two years, I’ve been reporting on longevity and the lifestyle choices that seem to help people live longer. Here are five habits that stand out.
1. Eat a healthy diet
“Diet is by far the most important factor” for longevity, Valter Longo who’s studied longevity for about 20 years, told CNBC Make It earlier this year.
Countless experts who study the world’s longest-lived communities couldn’t stress enough how much the foods you eat can affect your lifespan. An eating pattern similar to the Mediterranean diet is what longevity experts recommend the most.
According to Longo and Dan Buettner, the longevity expert who interviews centenarians and visits blue zones, a longevity diet should be mostly plant-based and include:
- Legumes, especially beans
- Nuts
- Whole grains like oats
- No red meat
- A healthy amount of vegetables, particularly leafy greens
“I recommended 12 hours of fasting daily. Let’s say you eat between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. [or] 7 a.m. [and] 7 p.m.” Longo said. Buettner also eats within a 10- or 12-hour window, according to his interview with Make It in March.
2. Move your body often
Some longevity experts recommend daily exercise, and others recommend daily movement through low-intensity physical activity.
Strength training twice a week and aerobic exercise three times a week, even for 10 minutes of day, is one of the daily practices that increase a person’s chances of living to 90, according to the New England Centenarian Study.
In blue zones, the physical activity is a lot less vigorous, but centenarians still move daily, Buettner said in his Netflix…
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