A healthy lifestyle can add five years to the lifespan of people genetically predisposed to dying young, a study has found.
Experts analyzed more than 350,000 people in the UK and found that healthy habits such as regular exercise, not smoking and eating well could help offset the negative impact of genetics on life expectancy. discovered.
Researchers say 20% of Britons surveyed are at high genetic risk of premature death, defined as those under 75, but healthy interventions could add five years and three months to their lives. Stated.
About 60% of the participants had genetic traits that made them more likely to have a “moderate” life expectancy, while the remaining 20% had genes associated with a longer-than-average lifespan.
Stall life
Life expectancy in the UK has slowed over the past decade and is now lower than it was before the pandemic, at around 78 and a half years for men and 82 and a half years for women.
Experts found that people with genes that predispose them to a shorter lifespan are 21 percent more likely to die before age 75 than those with genes that predispose them to a longer lifespan.
The researchers also divided 353,742 UK Biobank participants into three groups based on lifestyle health. 23.1% had a good lifestyle, 55.6% had an intermediate lifestyle, and 21.3% had an unfavorable lifestyle.
About 25,000 people died during the 13-year study, and the scientists used a polygenic risk score to determine a person's overall genetic predisposition to a longer or shorter lifespan. Scientists also scored people's lifestyle across key areas such as smoking, drinking, exercise, diet, sleep and body shape.
They concluded that if these people practiced a healthy lifestyle, they could offset the genetic risk of shortened lifespan and premature death by about 62 percent.
Benefits of good sleep
The researchers found that the “optimal lifestyle combination” for longevity was “non-smoking, regular physical activity, adequate sleep hours, and a healthy diet.”
Meanwhile, people with unhealthy lifestyles had an average 78% increased chance of dying prematurely, but if they also carried genes that predisposed them to a shorter lifespan, this increased their chances of dying before age 75. more than double.
“Participants at high genetic risk could increase their life expectancy at age 40 by approximately 5.22 years if they practiced a favorable lifestyle,” the researchers wrote.
Matt Lambert, senior health information officer at the World Cancer Research Fund, said: “This new research shows that despite genetic factors, eating a balanced, nutritious diet and staying active “This shows that living a healthy lifestyle can help you live longer.” It has also been shown to reduce the risk of cancer. ”
He acknowledged that “making healthy changes can be daunting,” but encouraged people to consider Activ8, the foundation's online healthy living program.
Progress lost in the pandemic
Researchers from China's Zhejiang University School of Medicine and the University of Edinburgh published their findings in the journal BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.
Life expectancy in the UK is about the same as it was 10 years ago after the pandemic wiped out minimal progress.
Recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows that women's healthy life expectancy, which estimates how many years an individual can maintain in 'very good' or 'good' health, has fallen lower for women than for men during the pandemic. became.
Women in Wales experienced the biggest decline in healthy life expectancy, while men in Northern Ireland were the only group not to see a significant impact.
Another study published last week in the British Journal of General Practice found that a shortage of general practitioners may be behind the decline in life expectancy.
A national health survey in the UK found that people in areas with more GPs and who are more likely to see the same GP have a higher life expectancy.