5 simple tips increase your life expectancy

With small habits in everyday life you can do your part, yours Life expectancy to increase. Here are five tips that can help you live a long life.

Life expectancy: 5 tips for you

Although genes play an important role in life expectancy, you can also try to promote a long life with small changes in your everyday life. Experts have some tips ready for this.

Tip 1: Unusual activities

Walking backwards down the stairs, juggling lemons, spontaneously dancing in the kitchen: According to Professor Sven Voelpel, age researcher at Jacobs University Bremen, unusual activities are stimulating. The stimulation not only benefits your muscles, but also your brain. “Always new movements mean always new connections in the brain. That means we actually stay fit in the brain,” he explains to n-tv. A headstand is especially good against Alzheimer’s because the head is supplied with blood in this way.

If you watch TV for a long time, at least don’t stay in one position for several hours. You could do squats, stand on one leg, or stretch.

But why does exercise play a role in life expectancy? According to Sven Voelpel, exercise can slow down aging. The body is supplied with important minerals, vitamins or enzymes and can be detoxified at the same time.

Tip 2: Spermidine-rich diet

What is spermidine? This is an endogenous substance that occurs in all human body cells. It is a kind of “garbage disposal in the cells” since it disposes of cell debris and cleans cells. However, the concentration of the substance decreases with age. In fruit flies, however, it has been shown that a spermidine-rich diet can increase life expectancy. This translates to humans because they are genetically similar to fruit flies.

The first studies with test persons confirm the effectiveness: “From such data you can see that a spermidine-rich diet could actually mean a life expectancy that is up to five years longer,” explains neurobiology professor Stephan Sigrist from the Free University of Berlin to n-tv.

What foods is spermidine found in? Especially in:

• wheat germ
• mature cheese (cheddar)
• rice bran
• mushrooms
• legumes
• broccoli
• Chickpeas
• dried soybeans

by the way: Spermidine is also why you should drink coffee without milk.

Tip 3: Breathe slowly

Stress affects your body in different ways. It increases your blood pressure, promotes inflammatory processes and can change your eating habits. Health researcher Professor Tobias Esch from the University of Witten/Herdecke explains: “All of this together leads to a demonstrable shortening of lifespan”.

However, by consciously breathing slowly, such as when you meditate, you can help lower your stress levels. The health magazine of the AOK recommends the following three breathing exercises:

• feel breathing: Place your hands on your chest and notice how your chest rises and falls as you breathe. Repeat, then place your hands on your stomach, sideways on your lower ribs. You should clearly feel the movement through breathing.
• 4711: Inhale for four seconds and exhale for seven seconds. Repeat eleven times.
• Bhramarin – Bee buzz: Hum on the exhale with closed lips like a bee. “The vibration in the resonance chambers of the neck, chest and head ensures better blood circulation and relaxation of body and mind,” says the health magazine of the AOK. The breathing exercise comes from yoga.

Tip 4: Eat nuts

Nuts are particularly good as in-between snacks because they’re rich in nutrients: they’re high in protein, fiber, antioxidants, and high-quality unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid and omega-3 fatty acids (via Center for Health).

Numerous studies show that nuts have a positive effect on heart disease, high blood pressure, inflammation, diabetes and increased blood lipid levels. They also help prevent some types of cancer. For example, if you eat walnuts every day, you are doing something good for your body and can thus increase your life expectancy.

Healthy nuts in a broader sense include (via Utopia):

• brazil nuts provide you with unsaturated fatty acids and have large amounts of the trace element selenium. They also provide you with magnesium, iron, zinc, calcium, phosphorus and vitamin E. But be careful: never eat more than two Brazil nuts a day because they have a high radium content.
• cashew nuts are rich in unsaturated fatty acids and contain B vitamins, vitamin K, magnesium, copper, iron, phosphorus and potassium. They also provide you with a large amount of tryptophan. This is an amino acid that your body needs to produce the happiness hormone serotonin.
• macadamia nuts are among the most fiber-rich nuts. They also get B vitamins, vitamin E and calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium and potassium.
• almonds have significant amounts of magnesium, calcium, copper, B vitamins and vitamin E.

Also interesting: A study shows how healthy drinking tea is (especially green tea).

Tip 5: Sleep enough, but not too much

You should not sleep too much or too little each night. This is shown by the large JACC study from Japan, which was published in 2011. In the study, 100,000 men and women between the ages of 40 and 79 were asked about their sleeping habits. In the following ten years, the researchers also observed the health of these people. They then came to the following result (via 7years longer):

• Those who sleep less than 4.5 hours have an increased risk of death
• Those who sleep more than eight hours also have an increased risk of death
• The risk increases by another 30 percent if you sleep for more than ten hours

The subjects who slept between 6.5 and 7.5 hours lived the longest. This leads to the tip: sleep enough, but not too much.

Conclusion: Feasible tips in everyday life

According to the researchers, it is possible to incorporate simple habits into your everyday life that are good for you and your body. In the best case, you can use it to increase your life expectancy.

Four foods that boost your body are also good for you: That’s why mango, honey, cinnamon and turmeric are so-called superfoods. Also make sure you drink enough water. That’s how much you should drink a day.

Sources: Destatis, Statista, n-tv, Zentrum der Gesundheit, health magazine of the AOK, 7years longer, Utopia