In addition to potentially saving you money on your life and health insurance, taking steps to improve your life expectancy can greatly increase your overall happiness in life. Here are 5 steps that have been proven to lead to longer, healthier lives.
Committing to daily exercise is the number one way to help extend your life expectancy. Those who exercise for around three hours a week have DNA and cells that were nine years younger than those who did not, according to a study. The easiest way to start your journey to committing to exercising is by daily repetition. To have results like those in the study, three hours is equal to thirty minutes a day.
It’s important to maintain an annual appointment with your primary care doctor for a number of reasons. The challenge is trying to figure out which tests you need to take and when. Everyone has a unique set of risk factors and family history, which means only your doctor can provide you with a timeline of what tests you should take and when. Regular mammograms, colonoscopies, and Pap smears have been proven to decrease mortality and morbidity from the diseases they screen for.
Stress can affect life expectancy in two significant ways. Direct and unhealthy effects of stress on the body in the long term is the first major way. The other way that stress can shorten your life expectancy is through the negative behaviors that become stress triggers. Comfort eating and smoking are unhealthy behaviors that come from these stress triggers. Try to pinpoint the things in your life that are causing you to hold onto stress and engage in negative, unhealthy behaviors. Once you find these stressors, try to find ways to counter them in order to have less stress surrounding you.
Did you know that watching TV can lead to a less active lifestyle? Those who sit in front of the television are bound to eat more than those who spend less time in front of the screen. TV consumption can also lead to antisocial habits due to you being home, zoning in instead of being with others. TV is stressful because of the types of things that are on the news or shows that have high-stress situations in them. On average, people consume about four hours of TV a day, which adds up to nineteen hours a week – ultimately more than 1,000 hours a year.
Smoking is one of the biggest health risks in the world. Smoking can cause your lungs to lose their functionality. In addition, if you smoke around others, you are putting them at a higher risk for lung issues due to inhaling secondhand smoke. Breathing in secondhand smoke can increase the risk of lung cancer, heart disease and stroke. If a child were to be exposed to secondhand smoke, it doubles their risk of getting chest related illnesses which include pneumonia, ear infections, wheezing and asthma.
The better you maintain your health through exercise, healthy eating, and reducing stress and unhealthy behaviors, the more you can lower the costs of your health and life insurance. It’s never too late to make a lifestyle change, and your wallet will thank you as well as your body. Speak to your agent today about how you can lower your premiums!