When a Harvard scientist speaks it’s wise to listen, especially when the subject is about something we are all interested in – living longer.
Dr. John Day is a Harvard scientist, who received his medical degree from John Hopkins and completed his residency and fellowships in cardiovascular medicine and cardiac electrophysiology at Stanford University.
He has published over 100 medical papers and published a best selling book entitled The Longevity Plan.
Dr. Day has revealed 5 longevity hacks that everyone is capable of doing and that will add years to our life.
None of the longevity hacks are difficult and they are all things we can incorporate into out everyday routine.
Live To Be 90
Cancer and heart disease are the top two diseases that shorten the lifespan. If these two health robbing conditions can be avoided, chances are good that you’ll make it to 90.
These 5 hacks reportedly will reduce the risk of heart disease by over 70%. Now that’s a high number and an excellent rate of return for investing in these 5 simple hacks everyday.
These same 5 hacks significantly reduce the risk of all types of cancer and improve longevity.
How’s this for motivation, reportedly, women who apply these 5 longevity hacks to their life add 14 years to their lifespan and men get an extra 12 years.
Let’s discover the tried and true hacks so we can add years to our life and life to our years.
Longevity Hacks
1. Breathe Clean Air
Don’t smoke and don’t be around people who do smoke. This includes e-cigarettes and cigars.
Most people are well aware of the damaging effects cigarette smoking has on health. Even second-hand cigarette smoke is detrimental to health.
So if you smoke, quit, and avoid any location where cigarette smoke may be lurking. But don’t stop at avoiding cigarette smoke, avoid all types of air pollution to increase your life span.
Outdoor air pollution will reportedly decrease longevity by 5 1/2 years. Exhaust fumes from vehicles, emissions from manufacturing plants, etc. pollute the air we breathe and can decrease the amount of time we live.
Walk and exercise away from traffic to avoid inhaling car exhaust and stay indoors when possible when air quality is poor. Wearing a mask over the mouth and nose when outdoors will help clean the air before you inhale it.
Indoor air pollution has a major impact on our heath too. Cooking fumes, fumes from furniture, flooring and even clothing pollute the air we breathe inside our home and work place.
Use a high quality HEPA filter in air conditioning systems and change them often to filter out pollutants. Having certain types of house plants such as the Peace Lily, will help remove pollution from the air too.
2. Keep BMI Between 19-25
BMI stands for Body Mass Index and it’s a way of calculating how much body fat you’re carrying around. Even if your weight is within the normal range, it still might be above the upper limit of 25.
While no one is certain as to why the BMI of between 19-25 seems to be the magic number to increase lifespan, but studies have shown this to be the range that promotes longevity.
Dr. Day gives us a useful hack for getting our BMI, and maintaining it, to below 25 – all we have to do is follow these three things: Do’t eat sugar or flour, and do not eat anything after 7pm.
Sugar and flour cause metabolism to get out of balance, mess up your insulin sensitivity, and keep you hungry all day long. Eating after 7pm also messes up metabolism.
To allow your body’s metabolism and insulin sensitivity to work properly, your body needs several hours without food each 24 hour period. By cutting out food after 7pm, most of us will be giving our body 12+ hours without food so it can adjust metabolism and insulin naturally.
Want to try intermittent fasting?
3. Exercise
At least 30 minutes of exercise each day is ideal for increasing lifespan. Do some type of physical activity that gets your heart rate up and causes you to sweat every day.
Walk, jog, dance, play ball, swim, garden, play tag with the grandkids, or anything else that will get you up and moving for 30 minutes.
Find something you enjoy doing so you will stick with it. More than one activity is good to keep the exercise routine from becoming boring.
Take the stair test to see how long you may live.
4. Limit Alcohol
Less is best when it comes to living longer. For years we have been told that a glass of red wine or grape juice every day is good for the heart. While it might be good for the heart, it’s not necessarily the best thing to do to live longer.
There have been many studies done on the impact alcohol has on heart health, cancer reduction and other health related issues.
The combined studies provide conflicting results – some tests show drinking a moderate amount of alcohol is good, while equally as many studies show alcohol consumption is bad.
One result has been conclusive in all the studies – those who drink the least amount of alcohol live the longest. The alcohol (or grape juice) quickly converts to sugar in the body and is not good for the blood sugar level or for the BMI.
Save alcohol consumption for those special celebratory occasions in life so you can celebrate living to be 90 years of age or more.
Sticking to no more than one glass of red wine a day can be beneficial to your longevity.
5. Eat Healthy
This is the hardest longevity hack because many of us already think we are eating healthy. We have cut out fried foods, sweet treats and white bread. So far, so good, right?
It’s a start to a healthy diet, but not the longevity hack Dr. Day is revealing to us today.
Hack #5 is: Eat real food.
The food on your plate should look like you grew it in the garden or brought it back from a hunt.
Stay away from foods that come in a box, can, jar or fast food bag. Healthy foods have been minimally processed and contain no additives.
Eat real fruits, vegetables and meat everyday. Yes, even meat is part of a healthy eating plan if it’s a lean cut, not fried and about the size of a deck of cards.
Fish, poultry and red meat can be consumed a few times per week, but don’t make meat the center of every meal.
Vegetables should be the center of each meal, even breakfast. Tomatoes, spinach or kale and many other vegetables go well with egg dishes and there are an endless number of healthy vegetable and fruit smoothies you can make for breakfast-on-the-go.
Avoid sugar and flour, as mentioned previously, to stay on the healthy eating track. Stay away from hidden sugars found in store pasteurized fruit juices.
These will elevate your blood sugar and can cause weight gain. Jelly, jam, syrup and the like are mostly flavored sugar and should be avoided.
Flour from any source, including whole wheat, potatoes, coconut, corn, and rice, turn to sugar in our body just minutes after we consume it.
Eat real food to help you live a longer and healthier life.
