We’ll let you in on a little secret: Being an old geezer is great. Age wins you respect, a license to run your mouth, steep discounts at your neighborhood movies, and plenty of time to pile on the memories.
But you have to earn the decades; unfortunately, whoopie pies, annoying in-laws, and chronic disease stand in your way. Take your cane and knock death back a few years. We’ve compiled the latest mortality research to help you earn your walker.
Even if it’s for just 20 minutes. A new study from Cambridge University analyzed the activity habits of more than 334,000 participants and found that people who burned just 90–110 calories—roughly the equivalent of a brisk 20-minute walk—every day reduced their risk of early death by as much as 16–30%.
Finding a healthy partner could actually save your life. University College London researchers studied 3,722 couples and found that 67% of men became more physically active if their partner was, and 48% quit smoking once their partner had. You know the saying: healthy wife, healthy life (or something like that).
Travel journalist Dan Buettner has spent more than a decade studying what he’s dubbed “international blue zones”—tiny areas of the world that have outsize populations of centenarians. His book, The Blue Zones Solution, out this month, offers valuable lifestyle tips from the planet’s elders. Some of the best include: Stop eating when your stomach’s 80% full, drink one to two glasses of alcohol a day (but not more), and eat more plants.
Not really. But, hey, it would work: A 1969 study from the Journal of Gerontology found that castrated men lived more than 13 years longer than their intact brethren—and, in the process, unintentionally created the best “would you rather” question of all time.
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