Want to add years to your life? Don’t smoke, stay active, eat your fruits and veggies, and drink alcohol in moderation. Nothing surprising there—but still a good reminder as yet another study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, confirms this common sense advice.
Several studies have investigated the effects of smoking, physical activity, diet, and alcohol consumption on health and longevity, but so far they’ve only looked at certain groups, limiting the conclusions that can be drawn about the results.
The new study included 4,886 people over age 18 who were followed for 20 years as part of the Health and Lifestyle Survey (HALS) in England, Wales, and Scotland. The participants gave information about smoking history, amount and frequency of fruit and vegetables eaten, amount of leisure time physical activity, and alcohol consumption.
One point was given for each of the following “poor health behaviors”: current smoking, eating fruits and vegetables less than three times per day, getting less than two hours of leisure time physical activity per week, and having more than three drinks per day (men) or more than two drinks per day (women).