{"id":31021,"date":"2023-09-11T21:16:34","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T02:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?p=31021"},"modified":"2023-09-11T21:16:36","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T02:16:36","slug":"longevity-healthy-living-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/11\/longevity-healthy-living-tips","title":{"rendered":"If You Play Your Cards Right, You’ll Live Longer Than You Think."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An amusing moment occurs two or three times a week when I am finishing up with a middle-aged patient who asks, health-wise, how she’s doing. I tell her that my best guess is she’s got “X” number of decades left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They pause for a second, doing the math.
“Why, that makes me 95.”
“Why not?”, I say. “You’re healthy. You eat right. You exercise. You don’t skydive. You live in a Blue State (an amazing two years difference in longevity compared to Red States<\/a>).”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She’ll then assume a momentary “thoughtful” look. “Gee,” she seems to be thinking, “if I’m going to live that long, I’d better start eating even better (exercising more, saving money, stop making resolutions).”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I bring this ‘surprise of a longer life than expected’ moment up for one good reason. WholeHealth Chicago patients really do take care of themselves better than most patients that doctors see on a day-to-day basis. And because of their efforts, they do need to know it will pay off in years and years of good health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HERE\u2019S A ROLE MODEL<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Look at this article in the New York Times about the exercise routine of Elaine Lalanne<\/a>, the great-looking 97-year-old widow of fitness guru, Jack Lalanne. Jack, who exercised until his dying day (at 96), literally introduced exercise and fitness to the entire world with a daily TV show, gyms, and gym equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Together you have a kingdom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confirming Jack\u2019s motto, the statistics prove it:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The data-driven statistician-physicians from the University of Sydney recently went through 346,000 surveys and came up with the fact: if you want to reduce your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, cancer, etc., in other words, enjoy a longer and healthier life, you’ve got to do both, eat well and exercise regularly. Here’s the article from the <\/a>New York Times<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And another Jack Lalanne motto, of getting older is, “Be mobile or become immobile.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORE LONGEVITY RECOMMENDATIONS (Easier Than Nutrition & Exercise)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Scientists agree coffee drinking helps longevity. <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In a huge study (over 170,000 men and women with an average age of 55 tracked over seven years), the “all-cause death rate” was dramatically lower among the coffee drinkers than among those who did not drink coffee. The “best amount” to drink was 1.5 to 3.5<\/strong> cups a day<\/strong><\/a>, and interestingly, with or without sugar or artificial sweeteners<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although you might not think of coffee as a health beverage, during the past few years, other studies have shown coffee has been helpful for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n