Can you guess in which country people live the longest? No, it’s not Japan, as most people believe. According to the United Nations, the country with the highest life expectancy in the world is Monaco, which also happens to be the richest country on Earth (in terms of GDP per capita).

While the average lifespan in Japan is about 85 years, the residents of Monaco are expected to live to 87 years of age. The life expectancy in the US stands at only 77.28 years, and in many African countries, it’s under 60.  

So why do people in some countries live longer than in others? Forget even countries, did you ever wonder why some people in general live longer than others? 

Scientists at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine have some answers to this question. Their newly published study list eight lifestyle habits that can bring a difference of over two decades in your expected lifespan. 

According to the researchers, a woman and a man who will develop and follow all these habits at the age of 40 are predicted to live 24 and 21 years longer, respectively, than individuals of the same gender who follow none of the eight habits.  

So what are the eight habits?

The study authors suggest that a person who aims to live a long and healthy life should develop the following habits by the age of 40:

1. Be physically active (for example; including walking, yoga, exercise, or playing a sport a part of your daily routine).
2. Don’t take opioids (like morphine, oxycodone, heroin, fentanyl, etc.).
3. Don’t smoke.
4. Manage your stress.
5. Have a good and balanced diet.
6. No binge drinking.
7. Have good sleep hygiene (a healthy routine and environment that promotes good and uninterrupted sleep).
8. HeMaintain positive and healthy social relationships.

They further suggest that it may not be possible for many people to develop all these habits by the time they reach middle age, but it’s never too late. Even if they adopt a few of these lifestyle changes, it could have a drastic effect on their lifespan. 

For instance, a person could decrease the risk of early death by 30 to 45 percent if they become physically active and get rid of smoking and opioid addiction.

“The earlier the better, but even if you only make a small change in your 40s, 50s, or 60s, it still is beneficial. We were really surprised by just how much could be gained with the adoption of one, two, three, or all eight lifestyle factors,” said Xuan-Mai T. Nguyen, one of the study authors and a medical student at Carle Illinois College.

What’s more interesting is that the lack of some good habits is more damaging to a person’s longevity than others. For example, the absence of positive social relationships in a person’s life accounts for a five percent increase in their risk of death. Whereas binge drinking and poor sleep hygiene are linked to a 20 percent increased risk of death.

All these findings are based on an analysis of the medical records of 719,147 US veterans. The age of the veterans ranged between 40 and 99 years.

Aging is normal, but diseases are not     

Nguyen and colleagues suggest that lifestyle plays a crucial role in shaping the health of an individual. Good lifestyle habits almost work like medicine and bad ones become the cause of the many health problems you experience. 

A person who doesn’t follow any of the abovementioned eight habits at any stage of their life is more likely to develop heart ailments, diabetes, and many other chronic disorders as they age. Of course, these lifestyle habits won’t make you immortal but they do promote healthy aging by preventing the occurrence of chronic diseases. 

“Lifestyle medicine is aimed at treating the underlying causes of chronic diseases rather than their symptoms. It provides a potential avenue for altering the course of ever-increasing health care costs resulting from prescription medicine and surgical procedures.” Nguyen said. Therefore “Adopting a healthy lifestyle is important for both public health and personal wellness,” she added.

The study comes with several caveats. For starters, the study was carried out on veterans, which may carry some differences from the rest of the population. Also, some of the data relied on questionnaires, and self-reported data is often pretty inaccurate. For instance, ‘managing stress’ could be differently understood by various participants. Lastly, the study wasn’t published in a peer-reviewed journal yet.

Still, with all these limitations, these findings are consistent with previous research and these simple approaches should help you live a healthier life.

The study is presented at NUTRITION 2023.