It's no secret that a healthy lifestyle can prolong one's life, but Harvard scientists dove deeper and outlined how we can add a decade or more just by following some simple habits.
Lifestyle choices are a huge factor in one's life expectancy. Poor health habits can chop years off one's life, while healthy ones can add 10 years or more, but it takes will and determination.
Healthy Habits To Prolong Life Expectancy
According to a new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, there are five simple healthy habits that can do wonders for one's life expectancy. First of all, sedentary lifestyles and junk food must be eliminated. It may not be easy, but being a couch potato and eating unhealthy food can seriously damage your health.
To prolong your life expectancy, the study suggests adopting a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising for at least 30 minutes every day, drinking alcohol only in moderation, and not smoking at all.
These habits may seem simple and quite obvious, but they're not always easy to follow. The recommended body weight and body mass index or BMI can pose challenges to many people, especially Americans. At the same time, cutting out junk food, smoking, and exercising daily could also be challenging. For most, drinking in moderation might be the easiest habit to maintain.
Simple 30-Minute (Or Less) Exercises For A Long And Healthy Life
While all of the aforementioned healthy habits are important, let's focus on physical activity. Exercising can help one achieve and maintain the desired weight, improve blood circulation, help people sleep better, improve one's mental state, and contribute to one's overall health.
Exercising for at least 30 minutes each day brings a slew of benefits, so here are some simple exercises that you can do at home, without needing to join a gym.
- Jumping Rope: 10 Minutes
The jumping rope may remind you of your childhood, but it's a great workout for adults as well. As the British Rope Skipping Association points out, exercising for 10 minutes with a jumping rope is the equivalent of running for 45 minutes.
When skipping rope, you have to use your legs to jump, your abdominal muscles to keep your body steady, and your arms and shoulders to turn the rope. It's quite a complete body workout, and you can burn up to 750 calories in half an hour.
It doesn't involve any sophisticated equipment, it doesn't require a lot of space, there's no mandatory pace or style, and it's highly effective.
- 7-Minute Workouts
Seven minutes can fly by when you're doing something fun, but they can also count a lot if you're doing the right exercises. Specific 7-minute workouts include up to 12 types of exercises that involve using a wall, a chair, and your own body weight to train.
Head over to your app store and look for 7-minute workout apps. There are plenty of them and they should help you get in shape in no time.
- 15-Minute Workouts: Resistance Training
You can also do a lot in 15 minutes if you go for resistance training, which can boost your metabolism, burn calories, and improve overall resistance. Short training sessions of just 15 minutes are also easier to follow, and just 1.5 hours per week should show visible results.
These 15-minute workouts mainly involve using hand weights and doing squats, allowing for rapid calorie burn and body sculpting. Do these exercises in sets of 12-15 each.
- 30-Minute Exercises
You can also find a lot of 30-minute workouts online, outlining various routines and sets of exercises designed to get the best results in the given amount of time. Half an hour per day is not that much if you want a healthier lifestyle, and the exercises are not overly difficult.
- Workout Videos
There is also a slew of workout videos online to suit every style, need, and preference. You can search for Pilates workout videos, 30-minute workouts, fitness routines, and what-not. YouTube is filled with such videos, as are plenty of fitness-focused sites online.
Bottom line, you have to commit to leading a healthy lifestyle and stick to it, applying it to every aspect of your life, from your eating habits to your sleeping habits, fitness routine, and everything in between. Running, riding a bike, swimming, hiking, yoga, or any type of physical activity helps.
