This is Part II. The other parts can be found here:
How to Live Longer Part I
As I described in Part I, these are from the book 50 Simple Ways to Live a Longer Life: Everyday Techniques from the Forefront of Science Here are the next 9 simple ways to live longer (I thought the 10th was kind of stupid). I’m supplying them right out of the book. After part V, I’ll give you some of my own ideas.
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The polyphenols in tea do all kinds of wonderful things from reducing the risk of heart attack, stroke, and cancer to boosting the immune system’s ability to fight bacteria and viruses. White, green, and black teas are all good but for a certain kind of antioxidant, white and then green are best. Something you might not know is that your bloodstream will only carry about one cup worth of tea polyphenols and only for about one hour. So it doesn’t do much good to just drink a cup or two in the morning. You should drink 5 to 10 cups sipped throughout the day for maximum benefit. Secondly you need to drink it within an hour or two of brewing or else the polyphenols disappear.
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That’s a shocker! Anyway to anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave, you should already know stress kills. You might not know it actually can kill brain cells. The best stress reducers are social connections (good ones obviously), exercise, belly breathing, and meditation.
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Another shocker. Besides eating well (and less), exercise is the best anti-aging drug you can take. Walking is great, but you really need to bump it up into more intense aerobic exercising for maximum benefit. Three to five workouts a week at 30 to 60 minutes are recommended. Strength conditioning is just as important if not more important so see the next one.
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Actually, as you age, lifting weights may be more important than aerobic exercise. It delivers the same basic health benefits as aerobic exercise. But in addition, the loss of function in aging is primarily a result of muscle and bone atrophy. That can be delayed, reversed, and almost eliminated by strength conditioning. If you want to be active when you are old, then lift weights. It also prompts your body to produce growth-hormone and testosterone. These are powerful anti-aging hormones. Even nursing home residents can start lifting weights!
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Your artery health is critical to a long and healthy life. They need to be elastic and free of plaque. Best methods for keeping your pipes healthy? Exercise and a diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts. Reduce animal protein, especially grain feed beef, take fish oil supplements or eat fish like salmon, and yes consider aspirin.
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Do everything listed under Unclog Your Pipes, but also make sure you stay trim and get plenty of potassium. Potassium lowers blood pressure so reduce salt and increase potassium. The ratio is critical – lots more potassium than salt. Calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D are also important. Long life is definitely correlated with low blood pressure.
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Type II diabetes will knock 12 years off your life on average and make the years you have a lot more miserable. The single best way to avoid it? Get thin and then stay thin. Any movement towards thin helps. After that aerobic and anaerobic exercise both reduce the risk. Eat the diet listed under unclog your pipes and avoid high GI carbohydrates like they are poison – because they are. A high-fiber diet slows glucose absorption.
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Early detection through colonoscopy is critical. For all you supplement avoiders out there, listen up. Selenium supplementation is highly correlated with reductions in colon cancer. Folic acid supplementation may be even more important in avoiding it. Vitamin D and calcium are also correlated with lower rates of colon cancer. Selenium is so powerful in so many ways, you have to be crazy to not take it. That’s my opinion anyway. Keep your food moving through your system with plenty of fiber.
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If you are a man and you live long enough you’ll get it. Almost all 80+ men have it, but they may not know it because it grows slow. Prostate cancer is highly correlated to lifestyle such as excessive consumption of red meat. So reduce red meat, increase fish and/or take fish oil supplements, drink white or green tea, drink red wine, and eat soy. Remember I said something about selenium supplements above? Well guess what? Selenium supplementation reduces prostate cancer 62%. That’s selenium supplements. Take a lycopene supplement or eat a lot of tomato paste products like pizza sauce! Saw palmetto is a superior prostate health supplement and if you are a man over 30, then take it. All this supplement advice is backed by a lot of research so ignore it at your own risk.
What do you think? Leave a comment below.
Tagged as: Health, life-extension