21.43 Minutes a Day and 8 Other Ways to Lengthen Your Life

When you make a New Year’s res­o­lu­tion, you may be think­ing of ways you can improve your health over the year. When you decide to try a new kind of phys­i­cal activ­i­ty, you might focus on how to get bet­ter over a cou­ple of weeks or months. 

But when you are think­ing about what healthy habits to add to your rou­tine, you may not think about how they can help you live longer — and you may be sur­prised at how easy some of these habits are. 

Here are 8 healthy choic­es that can add years to your life. 

1. Get more move­ment in your day.

Phys­i­cal activ­i­ty is a key part of stay­ing healthy — and it can also help you live longer. In fact, stud­ies have found that just 21.43 min­utes of move­ment each day can low­er your chances of dying from all caus­es by 33%. 

If 22 min­utes sounds like a lot, remem­ber there are many dif­fer­ent ways to move each day that don’t involve ​“exer­cise.” Tak­ing the stairs, get­ting more steps in your day by clean­ing your house, and play­ing with your kids or pets are all ways to get moving.

2. See your pri­ma­ry care physi­cian every year.

Reg­u­lar­ly see­ing your pri­ma­ry care physi­cian (PCP) can play a sig­nif­i­cant role in extend­ing your lifes­pan. Research has shown that peo­ple who pri­or­i­tize annu­al vis­its with their PCP reduce their risk of pre­ma­ture death by 19% com­pared to those who only rely on spe­cial­ist care.

Your PCP is a great resource for pre­ven­ta­tive care, health screen­ings, and ear­ly detec­tion of poten­tial health issues. By build­ing a long-term rela­tion­ship with your PCP, they can mon­i­tor your over­all health and pro­vide per­son­al­ized guid­ance on healthy lifestyle choices.

Make your annu­al well­ness vis­it a pri­or­i­ty by find­ing a Pri­ma­ry Care Provider or mak­ing an appoint­ment with yours today.

3. Quit smoking. 

Quit­ting smok­ing is a choice that can improve your health as well as length­en your life. Smok­ing is asso­ci­at­ed with an increased risk of heart dis­ease, lung can­cer, COPD, and stroke — all of which can have an impact on the length or qual­i­ty of your life. 

When you quit smok­ing, there is an imme­di­ate ben­e­fit by not putting harm­ful chem­i­cals and tox­ins from cig­a­rettes into your body. Long-term stud­ies have shown that smok­ers who quit can add up to 10 years onto their life.

4. Eat less red meat.

It’s okay to enjoy a nice steak din­ner every now and then, but eat­ing less red meat may help you live longer. Reduc­ing how much red meat you eat (espe­cial­ly processed vari­eties) has been linked to low­er mor­tal­i­ty rates. Oth­er options — like seafood, poul­try, beans, nuts, seeds, eggs, and soy prod­ucts — can be a great source of pro­tein instead.

It’s also a good idea to add more fruits and veg­eta­bles while you’re at it. Just 2 serv­ings of fruit and 3 serv­ings of veg­gies every day can low­er your risk of dying from a chron­ic disease.

5. Wear your seatbelt.

Wear­ing a seat­belt when in a car is a sim­ple yet impor­tant habit that can increase your chances of liv­ing a longer life. In the state of Illi­nois, it is not just a good prac­tice but also a legal requirement.

Your seat­belt can pre­vent a seri­ous injury or death if you get in a car acci­dent. In 2017, 14,955 lives were saved because some­one was wear­ing their seat­belt — and it’s esti­mat­ed that seat­belt usage could have saved more than 2,500 more if peo­ple had buck­led up. 

6. Get more sleep.

One bad night’s sleep can leave you tired and grouchy. But a life­time of bad sleep can have seri­ous health impacts. Stud­ies have shown that peo­ple who con­sis­tent­ly sleep the rec­om­mend­ed amount — typ­i­cal­ly between 7 to 8 hours per night — tend to live longer. 

But it’s not just about get­ting enough sleep, it’s also about get­ting good sleep. Qual­i­ty sleep includes the num­ber of hours each night, but it also means falling asleep quick­ly, stay­ing asleep through­out the night, and wak­ing up feel­ing rest­ed (with­out the use of sleep med­ica­tions). All of these togeth­er can lit­er­al­ly add years to your life.

7. Put home safe­ty first.

Home safe­ty can be a big com­po­nent of liv­ing a longer life, espe­cial­ly as you get old­er. Acci­den­tal falls are the lead­ing cause of injury-relat­ed deaths among old­er adults, mak­ing it cru­cial to cre­ate a safe liv­ing environment. 

Sim­ple changes like installing grab bars and handrails, get­ting rid of trip­ping haz­ards, and mak­ing sure there is good light­ing, can sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce the risk of a fall. By pri­or­i­tiz­ing home safe­ty, you can low­er the risk of a fall for your­self or a loved one — maybe even sav­ing and extend­ing someone’s life.

8. Stay connected. 

Main­tain­ing rela­tion­ships and avoid­ing iso­la­tion can extend your life. Research has shown that social iso­la­tion and lone­li­ness have a neg­a­tive effect on your health and increase the risk of pre­ma­ture death. Peo­ple who expe­ri­ence iso­la­tion may have as much as 32% high­er risk of ear­ly death com­pared to those who are not social­ly isolated. 

Engag­ing in social activ­i­ties, cre­at­ing mean­ing­ful rela­tion­ships, and stay­ing con­nect­ed with friends, fam­i­ly, and your com­mu­ni­ty can have a pos­i­tive impact as you age. When you have strong rela­tion­ships, you may expe­ri­ence a longer and more ful­fill­ing life.

By build­ing healthy habits, you aren’t just improv­ing your health in the moment, but in the long term too. Small changes can make a big dif­fer­ence — help­ing you live a long, full life.