Simple, Science-Based Tips for Women to Live Longer, Healthier Lives

Turning a year older every 365 days is something that we can’t control. However, it certainly doesn’t mean there isn’t anything women can do to make the years longer and healthier. Health-wise, women have complete control over how they want to feel and look – and the earlier they start, the better! Here are some tips that you can follow to really make a significant difference in your life to live longer and feel healthier!

• Establish a smarter sleeping pattern. If there’s one super easy thing you can do every day for your health, it’s to have the right amount of sleep. When we get enough sleep, the body is able to heal itself adequately by having enough time to regulate cell function. Studies show that having a very regular sleeping pattern is linked to longevity. This means you should aim to wake up and go to bed at the same time, even on weekends.

The ideal amount of sleep is around 7-8 hours. Any more or less than that can actually be detrimental to your health shown by a decrease in your lifespan (12% for less than 5-7 hours, and up to 38% for more than 8-9 hours).

Too little sleep leads to a decrease in lifespan because of the health problems it creates: increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity, as well as promoting inflammation. Meanwhile, excessive sleep can lead to low physical activity, depression, undiagnosed health conditions and even unemployment. These are all factors that negatively impact one’s lifespan as well.

• Stop smoking. Smoking is one of those bad habits that have strong links to disease as well as early death. American jazz singer Carmen McRae passed away due to emphysema, an illness brought about by excessive smoking.Many celebrities die each year of lung cancer and smoking cigarette is the main reason for that.

Studies show that women who smoke can stand to lose as many as ten years of their lives if they persist in this bad habit. In addition, the likelihood that they will die prematurely is three times higher compared to those who never smoked.

The good news? It’s never too late to kick such a bad habit. Deciding to quit at 35 years old can return as much as 8.5 years back to their life expectancy. Doing so in your 60s can give you back as much as 3.7 years. The years that you get back after quitting will really matter, especially if there are people whom you want to spend more time with.

• Eat healthy foods. This is perhaps a very obvious tip for general health and well-being, but it is too important to not include in this list. Basically, a healthy diet will allow you to avoid ailments at different ages and stages. These include hypertension, heart disease, cataracts, and cancer. There is no need to follow an overly complicated formula for having a healthy diet. The basic idea includes consuming more vegetables, whole grains, and fruits and lowering your meat intake. Expending calories is also as important as consuming them, so engaging in physical activity is a must.

Fruits and vegetables have a five serving minimum daily requirement. For maximum health benefits, aim to get as colorful as possible in terms of your selections. For fats, avoid trans fats and stick to mono- and polyunsaturated oils. Fats should be 7% or less of your daily calories.

Consuming “the good fat” aka omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, trout, etc.) twice a week is also recommended by the American Heart Association for its heart health benefits. Aliens star Bill Paxton passed away due to stroke while having an open heart surgery, which is something that can happen to a person who does not have a heart healthy diet. When it comes to carbs, go for whole grain foods and avoid refined ones (ex. white bread). As you choose brown rice and whole oats, widen your carb scope by incorporating bulgur, barley, quinoa and kasha into your diet as well. And finally, when it comes to protein you should get most of your protein requirements from plant sources. These include grains, nuts, and beans and can help you avoid the unhealthy fats that are predominant in protein sourced from animals.

• Cook wisely. You may have healthy choices when it comes to food items, but if your manner of cooking is bad then you negate the positive health benefits they bring. As such, avoid charring or overcooking your food. These have more carcinogen build up compared to food cooked in other ways. Using little to no oil to cook your food is also ideal. This means no to frying, and yes to steaming, boiling, baking, roasting, and the like.

• Focus on developing good bone health. As children, our bones are more often than not strong and undergo repairs quickly. Growing up, this process becomes slower and causes our joints to get weaker or more fragile. In our mid-30s, bone density starts to drop. This means striving for a calcium-rich diet and getting lots of exercise in so you minimize the possibility of fractures. It is also important to increase your vitamin D levels, which you can get through sunlight exposure – so go out and soak up the sunshine as often as you can!

• Get social. Did you know that having friendships is one way to live longer? Most people appreciate having friends in their lives to be happier, and research shows they are actually crucial in one’s longevity. Studies on loneliness indicate that social isolation is largely associated with an increased rate of death for older people. Simply put, loneliness is a hidden killer of the elderly. Furthermore, the data shows that married people tend to live longer compared to their single counterparts. This is perhaps due to couples having better social networks, which increase their support and lowers the risk of being isolated. Now that you know this, there is no better excuse to call up your college best friend or invite your mom friends for a coffee date.

• Steer clear of stress. Women who say they “thrive on stress” aren’t exactly doing their body any favors. In fact, they are doing the exact opposite! Studies show that women who lead high-stress lives are twice as likely to die from stroke, lung cancer, and heart disease. Because of this, it is important to avoid as much stressors in your life as possible. Strive to become a more positive person, as pessimistic ones have a 42% risk of early death compared to their optimistic counterparts. Laughter isn’t only a way to show appreciation for something delightful, but it is also a clear sign that you are reducing stress and therefore prolonging your life.

Your mental and emotional health are just as important as your physical health, so recognizing and acting on stress and anxiety is important. There’s no better example of this than Robin Williams, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain – three celebrities who have taken their own lives in recent years due to mental depression.

• Floss your teeth every day. Are you surprised to find this tip here? It’s true though – flossing, when done daily and carefully, can help lower one’s risk of stroke and heart attack. When you floss, you remove more than just the food that’s trapped in between your teeth: you also get rid of the thin bacteria that eventually hardens into plaque. Daily brushing isn’t enough to keep this at bay, so daily flossing is a must to minimize your risk of periodontal disease. So many studies show that there is a link between oral bacteriaand cardiovascular disease, and this information should be enough to get you flossing regularly!

• Jumpstart your mornings with a cup of joe. There’s never a better reason to indulge (within reason) in a steaming cup of coffee first thing in the morning. As it turns out, drinking coffee in the morning helps to reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. The important thing to remember is to go easy on the caffeine, as too much of it can bring about insomnia and anxiety and reduce calcium absorption.

• Run for a minimum of five minutes a day. Everyone tells you that you should exercise or go to the gym to lengthen your lease on life. But what if you simply do not have time for such an activity? The good news is that you can still get benefit from running by engaging in it for a mere 5-10 minutes per day. Doing so can drastically reduce your risk for heart disease by as much as 58%! It also reduces your risk of death, overall, by 28%. Not a fast runner? No problem. Even those who clocked in 6 miles or less per hour still reaped benefits, according to researchers. These small gains do add up in the form of increased heart and lung function, which in turn contributed to an extended lifespan. The key here is consistency: even if you run just 10 minutes a day but do it for around six years, you’ll still be better off than sporadic running throughout your life.

The best time to apply these tips in your life is right now – wherever you are and however you are!