Four bad habits that could shorten your life
By LINDSEY TANNER (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-28 10:00
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The combination of four common bad habits - smoking, drinking too much, inactivity and poor diet - can age you by 12 years, new research suggests.
The findings are from a study that tracked nearly 5,000 British adults for 20 years, and they highlight yet another reason to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
Overall, 314 of those studied indulged in all four unhealthy behaviors. Of these, 91 died during the study, 29 percent. Among the 387 who abstained from all of the four habits, only 32 died, or about 8 percent.
The risky behaviors were: smoking tobacco; drinking more than three alcoholic drinks per day for men and more than two for women; getting less than two hours of physical activity per week; and eating less than three portions of fruits and vegetables a day.
The combined bad habits substantially increased the risk of death and made people who engaged in them seem 12 years older than people in the healthiest group, says lead researcher Elisabeth Kvaavik of the University of Oslo.
The healthiest group included never-smokers and those who had quit; teetotalers, women who had fewer than two drinks daily and men who had fewer than three; those who got at least two hours of physical activity weekly; and those who ate three fruit and vegetables at daily.
"You don't need to be extreme" to be in the healthy category, Kvaavik says. "These behaviors add up, so together it's quite good. It should be possible for most people to manage to do it."
For example, one carrot, one apple and a glass of orange juice would suffice for the fruit and vegetable cutoffs in the study, Kvaavik says, noting that the amounts are pretty modest and less strict than many guidelines.
Study participants were 4,886 British adults aged 18 and older, or 44 years old on average. They were randomly selected from participants in a separate nationwide British health survey. Study subjects were asked about various lifestyle habits only once, a potential limitation, but Kvaavik says those habits tend to be fairly stable in adulthood.
Death certificates were checked for the next 20 years. The most common causes of death included heart disease and cancer, both related to unhealthy lifestyles.
June Stevens, a University of North Carolina public health researcher, says the results are in line with previous studies that examined the combined effects of health-related habits on longevity.
The findings don't mean that everyone who maintains a healthy lifestyle will live longer than those who don't, but it will increase the odds, Stevens says.