Habits that Will Age you By Ten Years or More
No one wants to age.
Well, let me rephrase that. No one wants to look old. At least not anybody that I know.
We all know we can’t avoid aging. The real question is, can we avoid looking old? I think the answer is definitely.
But then again, if it were that easy, everybody would look great. No one would be wishing for a “fountain of youth” or care about dropping loads of dough on the best skin creams or nutritional supplements. No one would care about buying clothes that make them look thin or “take off the years.” And of course there would be no plastic surgery…
As I’ve come to learn though, a lot of things that we want in life aren’t easy to attain. It’s the hard work and effort that elicit the reward. It’s a matter of bartering. We trade time for money, time at the office for vacations, and beat ourselves up in the gym so we can look good – or at least not look worse. Almost everything in life seems to be a tradeoff. When I realized that, at first I was a little let down to be honest. Everything in life is a tradeoff? That sucks! Can’t a guy get something for free? Where’s the fairness in that? Over time I’ve come to accept it though, and actually, now, I don’t think it’s so bad. I think it just really comes down to choices. Yes, you do trade one thing for another, but often times the choice isn’t that hard.
For instance, think about how you want to look. Visualize nice sculpted muscles, six pack abs if you are a guy. Visualize toned healthy curves if you are a woman. Nice thoughts right?
Now, think about a box of cookies. Think about what they look like, how they taste, and how satisfied you would feel if you ate them. Would you feel satisfied? Or, on the other hand, would you be irritated with yourself because you ate something that might get in the way of achieving your other goal? Most people, depending on how serious they are about achieving a healthy weight or visual appeal with their bodies would probably feel more negative emotions from eating the cookies then they would positive ones. If they were very driven towards the goal of having a healthy body, then they might feel down right pissed off at themselves for having slipped up on their diet. They could be mad enough that they wouldn’t even enjoy the cookies in the first place!
If you haven’t experienced that before personally then hopefully the picture I painted helps. And if you have then you know exactly what I’m talking about. You already know that many things in life just require you to ask yourself what you want more. Instead of turning this into a motivational rant though, let me get to the list.
There are FOUR bad habits that, when combined, can age you by ten years or more. Not only do they age people faster, but they cause a huge increase in the risk of death in people who engage in all four. The proof is from a British study that tracked more than 5,000 people over 20 years. The most common cause of death? Heart disease and cancers, both of which are linked to unhealthy lifestyles.
The four bad habits included smoking, drinking too much, inactivity, and poor diet. Specifically, smoking tobacco, drinking more than three alcoholic drinks per day for men, and two for women, getting less than two hours of physical activity per week, and eating fruits and vegetables fewer than three times daily.
According to the study, which appears in the upcoming Archives of Internal Medicine, is is these four habits combined that drastically increased the risk of death and made people who engaged in them seem 12 years older than people in the healthiest group, according to lead researcher Elisabeth Kvaavik of the University of Oslo.
In the study (which followed 5000 people) the healthiest ones were those who had never smoked and those who had quit, women who had fewer than two drinks daily and men who had fewer than three; those who worked out for at least two hours per week; and those who ate fruits and vegetables at least three times daily.
While many people might see this study and think that they would have to revamp their entire lifestyle just to be considered “healthy” it isn’t all that hard.
Kvaavik notes that good behaviors seem to “add up” so three or four healthy behaviors are much more powerful in terms of the overall benefit than one or two.
Take Home Point: If you practice some of these bad habits, try to give at least one the boot. You’ll be healthier and probably live longer as a result.
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