Never too late to change: Healthy habits after 40 could add two decades to your life, U.S. veterans study suggests

"We were genuinely surprised at how adopting one, two, three, or all eight factors of a healthy lifestyle can significantly contribute to longevity. Our findings stress the significance of living a healthy life for public health and well-being. It's optimal to start early, but even making a small lifestyle change at 40, 50, or even 60 years old can still be beneficial," commented Xuan-Mai T. Nguyen from Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

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Nguyen shared this research at NUTRITION 2023, the flagship annual conference of the American Nutrition Society held in Boston.

Pillars of longevity

The team used medical documentation and survey data collected from 2011 to 2019 from 719,147 participants in the Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program. The scope of the study included adults aged between 40 to 99 and recorded 33,375 deaths throughout the observation period.

The eight habits investigated were physical activity, non-reliance on opioids, avoiding tobacco, stress management, a nutritious diet, maintaining sleep hygiene, and nurturing positive social connections.

They found that low physical activity, opioid use, and smoking were linked to an approximately 30-45% increased risk of death in the studied duration. Stress, alcohol abuse, and poor sleep hygiene were connected to a 20% rise in mortality risk, while a lack of positive social relationships resulted in a 5% risk uptick.

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Benefit of changing habits in later life

The researchers argue that these findings emphasize the contributing role of lifestyle factors in the development of chronic diseases. The results also help to quantify the degree to which making healthy choices can lower the risk of these diseases.

The projected increase in life expectancy due to adopting the eight lifestyle factors did decrease slightly with age. However, the benefits remained significant, indicating that adopting healthier habits later in life can still prolong life.

Interestingly, the study found that among women, leading a healthy lifestyle could also extend life, although the span was slightly less at around 21 additional years.