Is it ever too late to get healthy?
How many times have you made the New Year’s resolution to “get healthy”? If you’re like 92 per cent of the population, chances are your 2016 goal fell by the wayside long ago – maybe even on January 2. A number of factors are at play when it comes to finding the motivation to improve our health, but is age really one of them? Can you ever be too old to change your ways?
As it turns out, the answer is no. Even if you don’t start until the age of 60, introducing healthy habits like regular exercise, a healthy diet and even quitting smoking can still have a significant effect on your life expectancy.
A 2007 Medical University of South Carolina study published in The American Journal of Medicine looked at the effect of adopting healthy habits later in life on longevity and revealed some interesting findings.
Almost 16,000 men and women between the ages of 45 and 64 were tracked from 1987 to 1998, focusing on their weight, height, diet, exercise regime and whether or not they were smokers. The four “healthy habits” were:
- Eating a minimum of five serves of fruit and veg per day
- Spending at least two and half hours a week exercising
- Maintaining a healthy weight (a Body Mass Index score of 18.5 to 30)
- Not smoking
During the beginning stages of the study, only 8.5 per cent of participants were consistently practicing these habits. However, within six years this number had grown to an extra 8.4 per cent of people. Researchers found that those who tended to improve their lifestyle were mostly older females who were well educated, had a higher income and no history of high blood pressure.
Four years after the subjects took up all four healthy habits, it was discovered that they had reduced their risk of death by an impressive 40 per cent and lowered their risk of heart attack and stroke by 35 per cent.
Those who only took up three of the healthy habits didn’t quite reach the same level as the top group, but still managed to reduce their risk of death by 25 per cent. They did not, however, lower their chances of heart attack and stroke.
“These are significant and measurable results,” Dana King of West Virginia University’s Department of Family Medicine tells Verywell. “It shows you can still improve your health status, even if you don't start working on your habits until quite late in life. Any or all can make a big difference; it's never too late.”
Have you picked up any healthy habits later in life? Do you feel they’ve made a difference? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.
Related links:
Reawaken your creativity in retirement
Over-60s fitness gurus prove it’s never too late to get fit
Yet another blow to the myth of the midlife crisis