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Adopting four healthy behaviours can add up to 14 years of extra life if you were not following them before. This includes not smoking, moderate alcohol intake, taking exercise and eating five servings of fruit and vegetables per day. These results come from a study published in PLoS Medicine journal. This conclusion was identified by comparing people who adopted these strategies from people who did not. Although there is much evidence to show that these factors on their own have a large impact on life span, this study shows that when combined they tend to have a cumulative effect.

The study was conducted by the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council (MRC), on data from 1993 to 1997, on 20,000 men and women between the ages of 45 and 79. Death amongst these people was recorded until 2006. A point scale was given to each person, where each point was awarded for a ‘healthy’ behaviour. With the lowest scorers as having the same likelihood of death as a 4 point scorer. Note that these factors where independent of social class and body mass index.

Although this study does not conclusively prove that changing lifestyle to be more inlign with this behaviour, it strongly suggests that adopting these behaviours will extend the lifespan of someone who does not currently follow them. Also note that the study took into account social class and BMI, adding further weight to the findings. At the end of the day these four strategies are not time consuming or too onerous.

Tags: Aging, Life expectancy by Matias
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Cosmetic surgery has gone from being something which only a minority of people do to something which is much more socially acceptable and affordable. In the UK in 2005, 300,000 cosmetic treatments were performed while in the following year 577,000 were performed (an increase of over 90%) and a market analyst Mintel predicts that in 2008 Britons will spend over 1 billions pounds on cosmetic surgery.

However a recent report by Which? based in the UK has found that some clinics are putting sales before safety. Ultimately cosmetic surgery still carries the risks associated with surgery, but even so it was found that sales people with no medical training were giving misleading advices on procedures. Douglas McGeorge, who is the president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said the clinics where abusing the fact tat the public did not take the time to assess treatments.

The take home message from this is that although getting cosmetic surgery can certainly make improvements which may improve wellbeing, it is important to become aquainted with the risks/rewards before embarking on any alterations.

Find more information on this go to the bbc website

Tags: Life expectancy by Matias
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There may be potentially a single treatment which could provide protection against all types of flu. This would be a huge boost as many age related deaths are caused as the immune system is already weak and then being unable to cope with illnesses which at a younger age would be shrugged off. Also there would be an economic increase with the reduction in people needing to take days of for illness, not to mention the increase quality of life for people no longer having to suffer through flu symptoms.

The vaccine, is made by Acambis, and it would protect against all strains of influenza A. At the moment it is possible to be injected with a flue vaccine but it must be administered every month, however the new vaccine would not have administered every year. US trials show that the injection is safe and fast working, with 9 out of 10 of those who had doses of vaccine developed anti-bodies against the flu virus (this means that the virus will have a very hard time gaining hold next time it attacks). Currently Acambis are working with Professor Walter Fiers from the University of Ghent in Belgium and the Flemish Institute of Biotechnology to improve the formulation, prior to starting bigger human trials.

The way that this new vaccine works is by focusing on a protein called M2, which is found on the surface of A-strains of flu and does not mutate readily. The reason that current vaccines are constantly needed to be recreated is that, the two proteins (heamagglutinin and neuraminidase) tend to mutate very frequently.

Tags: Life expectancy by Matias
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Another potential method to live a longer and healthier life is to get a dog. However if you are not a dog owner and acquire one merely to live longer this may not be a sensible strategy as the time spent taking care of the dog will probably be more than the extra years gained.

The British Journal of Health Psychology reviewed many papers to find out the benefits to owning a pet dog. In the report Dr. Deborah Wells, from Queen’s University in Belfast stated that owners of dogs tended to have lower cholesterol and blood pressure. To add weight to her claim, a study of over 5000 people conducted at the Baker Medical Research Institute in Melbourne found that pet owners had significantly lower systolic blood pressure and cholesterol than non-owners.

Dr. Well postulates here of the reasons for dogs promoting well-being:

“It is possible that dogs can directly promote our well-being by buffering us from stress,” said Dr Wells, “The ownership of a dog can also lead to increases in physical activity and facilitate the development of social contact, which may enhance both physiological and psychological human health in a more indirect manner.”

Dr. Wells found that pet owners tended to be healthier in general, but that dogs appeared to have a better influence on well being than cats. Reinforcing this point in the report was the point that people who took cats and dogs from animal shelters noticed a decrease in minor health complaints, but only dog owners kept these improvements after 10 months.

In a study appearing in Public Health Reports in the USA, in1980’s, demonstrated that survival rates of heart attack victims who had a pet where 28 percent higher, that patients who had no pet. Alan Beck, at Purdue University postulated that the contact with pets triggered a relaxation response in the owner and would reduce stress levels. For dogs specifically the extra exercise gained while taking the pet for walks could also account for the difference.

To counter balance this optimism, it needs to be stated that pet owners, and non pet owners tend to be two very distinct groups of people, and as such it could be another trait which pet owners share which could be causing this effect, for example pet owners may eat more healthy foods than non-pet owners.

Tags: Aging, Life expectancy by Matias
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There have been many different studies which have identified that smoking reduces life expectancy. One particular 50 year study revealed that smoking cuts life expectancy by 10 years. Smoking-related deaths are more likely to be by cancer, and around 88% of deaths from lung cancer are from smoking. At least 50% of smokers will eventually be killed by their habit.

However even if you are still a smoker some of these lost years can be regained by quitting. From the 50 year study it was found:

• Men who quit at 30 died at the same age as non-smokers
• Men who quit at 40 died 1 year earlier than non-smokers
• Men who quit at 50 died 4 years earlier than non-smokers
• Men who quit at 60 died 7 years earlier than non-smokers

Reduced quality of life

Reduced life expectancy is not the only bad feature of smoking though, it also has a negative impact on quality of life, as smoking is associated with a variety of chronic conditions including bronchitis, asthma and high blood pressure. A study in Canada identified that non-smokers lived a significant extra portion of their life disability free. For example, a smoker aged 45 could expect to live another 18 years without some form of disability, while a non-smoker could expect to live another 25 years without a disability.

Effect of number of cigarettes smoked

The following table from the 50 year studies shows the difference the number of cigarettes smoked makes. (Unfortunately as of writing this the table does not display very well, to get it to display properly select the table and copy and paste it into word) In this table cigarettes smokers are grouped into smokers consuming 1-14, 15-24 and >24. The total death rate per year per thousand people for each group was as follows: 29.34(1-14), 34.79(15-24), 45.34(>24). This shows that the more cigarettes smoked the worse the death rate is per year.

Tags: Life expectancy by Matias
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