Dr. Séverine Sabia and her colleagues from England's University College of London equated successful aging with good physical and mental health as well as with a lack of disability associated with chronic diseases. Their study looked at the habits of 5,100 men and women. These participants were first questioned when they were between the ages of 35 and 55 in 1985 to 1988, and then again during a follow-up study in 2008 and 2009 when most of the participants were at least 60 years old. When the study began, the participants were all free of cancer, stroke and heart disease.
The participants were asked about four healthy habits:
- Not smoking.
- Moderate alcohol consumption of one to 14 units a week for women and one to 21 units a week for men.
- Physical activity (at least 2.5 hours a week of moderately intense physical activity or one hour or more of very intense physical activity a week).
- Eating fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.
Researchers compared the participants who said they observed the above healthy habits with those who said they didn't. The ones who followed all four behaviors had 3.3 times higher odds of successfully aging, Sabia and the other researchers reported.
I think that people who are more aware of how to take care of their body will be less fearful of aging and feel more comfortable in their skin and engaging in other positive activities. It is important to enforce the above habits into our everyday lives even as young adults and teenagers in order to age beautifully!
