According to the World Health Organisation, the average life expectancy in Australia is 82.5 years, with a healthy life expectancy being 73 years. If you want to live a longer life in full health, it is important that you look after your body. Even little changes, such as going for a brisk walk every day, can make a difference. It is also much easier to make small adjustments in your lifestyle gradually than it is to make a big sudden, drastic change. You can integrate these changes into your routine on a daily basis and boost your life expectancy in the long term.
Go for a walk
Daily walking is a healthy habit that can improve your life-expectancy for the long term. In fact one study found that even doing just 75 minutes a week improves fitness levels. Walking is a good overall form of exercise for all your muscle groups. It strengthens bones, increases your cardiovascular fitness, boosts muscle power, reduces body fat and improves your general endurance. It is also a low-impact form of exercise – you can go at your own pace, at any time of the day, and you don’t need any specialist equipment: just put on a pair of comfortable shoes and go outside.
Reduce your sugar intake
A study published in JAMA International Medicine in 2014 found that people who consumed a high-sugar diet (between 17% and 21% of their daily calories) were 38% more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than those consuming an average of 8% of their calories in sugar. The study took place over the course of 15 years. The bottom line is that the more sugar you consume, the more likely you are to be at risk of heart disease. There are easy, small changes you can make to your diet to reduce your sugar intake. Ditch the fizzy drinks and opt for good, old-fashioned water. Choose a piece of fruit with natural sugar rather than candy that contains processed sugar. Finally, make sure that you check the ingredients on the foods that you are buying in the grocery stores – in particular, many processed meals have a high sugar content that you may not be aware of.
Get a good night’s sleep
Lack of sleep has a direct correlation with life expectancy. A study done by the University of Naples Medical School and the University of Warwick found that people who were sleeping for less than six hours every night had a 12% increase of dying early due to health issues. This is a good reason to make even small changes to your sleep routine. Go to bed a little earlier every evening, and try to get seven to eight hours of sleep.
Small lifestyle changes are easier to make than drastic ones. But those little changes can mean that you have a healthy life, for longer.
