If there are bad habits that shorten lifespan, there are also good habits that increase lifespan. Dr. Kim Jin-mok said, “If you consistently practice good habits to increase lifespan in your daily life, you can be a beneficiary of both benefits, which will increase your average lifespan and healthy lifespan at the same time.” Here are 10 good habits that increase life expectancy, as he recommends
Table of Contents
1. Keep up with the news and stay away from banned food
Dr. Byung-Pal Yoo, who was a professor of geriatrics at Texas State University in the US, said in a paper published in the Journal of the Society of Geriatrics, that if you reduce your diet by 40%, your lifespan will be extended by 150%. After that, many scientists studied the longevity effect of news, and there were more than 10,000 papers on the effect of the news on health.
Our body has the ability to maintain a constant body temperature, blood pressure, blood sugar, and acidity of body fluids regardless of the environment. Whether exposed to cold or hot weather, the body temperature is always maintained at 36.5 °C. The same goes for blood pressure, blood sugar, and acidity. Even when exposed to heavy metals, the level of heavy metals in the blood is high in the acute phase, but after a few weeks, the level of heavy metals in the blood is normal. Even though heavy metals are not excreted for years or even decades once they enter the body.
What happened? This is because all the heavy metals in the blood are pushed into the tissues and the blood maintains a certain property. Maintaining such a constant state is called homeostasis. Therefore, maintaining homeostasis in our body is the keyword for health.
What can be done to maintain this homeostasis? In the meantime, several methods have been studied, but the most effective was found to be news. This means that you should eat a low-calorie diet. Eating a low-calorie diet, getting adequate exercise, and maintaining a good immune system will help you maintain homeostasis and be healthy.
Modern medicine interprets most diseases as caused by inflammation. Cancer is inflammation, and adult diseases are also inflammation. It is homeostasis that suppresses this inflammation, and the best way to maintain homeostasis is a low-calorie diet.
As important as this news is, not eating prohibited foods is an essential condition for eating. Make a note of the 10 banned foods set by the World Health Organization (WHO), and try to keep them with you at all times to avoid eating them.
The World Health Organization (WHO) lists the 10 banned foods:
- Fried food
- Salted food
- Processed meat products
- Confectionery
- Soft drinks
- Convenience store fast food
- Canned food
- Candied fruit
- Frozen snacks
- Charcoal grilled food.
This is because fried foods are high in bad fats called trans fats and cholesterol.
⇒ It is because salt is pointed out as a cause of stomach cancer and high blood pressure. In the case of kimchi that everyone in Korea eats, although it is pickled with salt, it is usually pickled with sun-dried salt, so it is okay because the sodium ratio is relatively low. In addition, it is not as bad as you think because potassium, which is abundant in raw materials, works competitively with sodium. In particular, as it is rich in fiber, it not only absorbs and excretes bad ingredients in the meal but also contains lactic acid bacteria, so it is salty but rather beneficial for health. However, it is best to eat as little salted fish as possible.
⇒ Readers will be well aware of the fact that processed meat products such as ham, sausage, and bacon are listed as first-class carcinogens. It may be okay if you eat it in small amounts, but let’s not forget that it can cause cancer with just one intake, as it is usually about 100g in one serving.
⇒ Since sweets are simple sugars, it is not good because they rapidly raise blood sugar and promote insulin secretion. It is a canned food with only high calories and no nutrients.
⇒ Soft drinks contain a lot of fructose. Because fructose is not used as an energy source in our body, it goes directly to the liver and is stored in the form of fat, which causes fatty liver.
⇒ Most of the fast-food sold at convenience stores contain various additives and contains a lot of chemicals such as preservatives. These chemicals are not good for our bodies.
⇒ In canned food, a coating agent called bisphenol is used, which is known to have a direct carcinogenic effect.
⇒Candied fruits are also very high in sugar content and often contain preservatives, so it is never good for health.
⇒ Frozen snacks refer to ice cream or ice sweets, which also contain a lot of sugar and various synthetic flavorings. Of course, they are all made with different chemicals.
⇒It is a well-known fact that burnt meat contains a primary carcinogen called benzopyrene.
2. Be physically active
Exercise is one of the things that is always mentioned as the secret to maintaining good health. But these days, most scientists are moving towards a more emphasis on physical activity than exercise. Even if you don’t do sports, you should do more activities in your daily life that can burn calories.
Physical activity includes chores such as cooking and cleaning, walking to use public transport, and going up and downstairs. It is common to play sports for more than 30 minutes, but rarely do housework or walking for more than 30 minutes. Even if you don’t do it in a row, you just have to try to add up to 30 minutes or more of the time you’ve been moving throughout the day.
3. Get quality sleep
A study has revealed that a good night’s sleep can balance the secretion of various hormones, thereby preventing the development and worsening of cancer. Dr. David Spiegel of Stanford University Medical Center, USA, published this research report in the medical journal.
A study has revealed that a good night’s sleep can balance the secretion of various hormones, thereby preventing the development and worsening of cancer. Dr. David Spiegel of Stanford University Medical Center, USA, published this research report in the medical journal.
Dr. Spiegel said, “If you do not get enough sleep, an imbalance in hormones deeply related to cancer, such as cortisol, melatonin, and estrogen, can result in cancer, and in cancer patients, the growth of cancer cells can be accelerated.”
Cortisol, a stress hormone that regulates the immune system, usually peaks in the morning and decreases during the day. However, when they looked at women at high risk of breast cancer, they found that the cortisol secretion cycle was abnormal. In addition, if the rhythm of cortisol is severely disturbed by sleep disturbance, the risk of cancer increases even more.
Dr. Spiegel also found that “melatonin secreted during sleep acts as an antioxidant that blocks DNA damage that can lead to cancer, and inhibits the production of estrogen, which increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer.”
Therefore, “Women who work night shifts produce less melatonin, which can promote estrogen production.”
4. Never smoke
Medical research into the harms of smoking has been going on for about 200 years. In particular, as the relationship between smoking and lung cancer became known in the 1950s, research on it became more active.
Currently, smoking is a direct cause of about 40 diseases and deaths, and it has been reported that it is indirectly related to about 10 diseases.
Worldwide, smoking accounts for 80-85% of the causes of lung cancer, and continuous studies are showing that quitting smoking is beneficial regardless of age and that the earlier the better. Recently, in the United States, about 30% of cancer-related deaths are due to tobacco smoking, and it has been reported that the risk of lung cancer decreases after quitting smoking.
In addition to lung cancer, this type of smoking is also closely related to various cancers such as laryngeal cancer, oral cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer. Smoking also raises blood pressure, so smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. If you only have to do one thing to prolong your life, it must be quitting smoking.
5. Be sure not to drink alcohol
ake you feel good, improve blood circulation, and make people more sociable.
But alcohol is addictive. When you drink it, it becomes a habit, and when you do that, it becomes a fire pit. This is because alcohol is closely related to various diseases.
Studies have shown that drinking alcohol in small amounts reduces heart disease. This is because alcohol raises a substance in the blood called HDL, known as good cholesterol. However, it is important to remember that excessive drinking can significantly increase the risk of heart disease and death.
People who habitually drink large amounts of alcohol have various health problems. Numerous problems such as high blood pressure, stroke, liver disease, gastrointestinal disease, osteoporosis, and lack of nutrients in the body follow like a thread.
When drinking alcohol, the total amount of alcohol consumed per day should not exceed 80 g. Drinking more than 1 bottle of soju and 1500cc of beer is considered binge drinking.
Start with alcohol that is as light as possible, and remember that drinking a lot of snacks will delay the absorption of alcohol and make you less drunk. Good side dishes include cheese, tofu, lean meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits. It is also a good idea to drink water frequently, especially when drinking alcohol.
6. Wash your hands 8 times a day
The most harmful bacteria in our bodies are our hands. Although it is invisible to the naked eye, there are statistics that an average of 60,000 bacteria is infested. The hand is the part that touches many things and comes into contact with many people. As a result, other people’s germs can get on my hands, and germs or viruses that were on objects or places can be transferred to my hands.
The common cold, which we often catch, is more often transmitted by putting a hand that has a cold virus on it to the nose or mouth rather than directly entering through the respiratory tract.
Even if you wash your hands properly, you can easily prevent 70% of diseases such as colds, flu, eye diseases, dysentery, and food poisoning. It is no exaggeration to say that washing your hands is a shortcut and a starting point to keep your health.
As the importance of handwashing has been highlighted, as part of the national movement, the ‘1830 Hand Washing’ movement is being held to wash hands 8 times a day for 30 seconds. Let’s join the ‘1830 hand washing’ movement to prolong my lifespan.
7. Meticulous dental care
Among dental diseases, appearance is closely related to our lifespan. It was named Pungchi because of the toothache when breathing or eating cold food.
This is a serious disease that can be the main cause of tooth loss. Therefore, you should always try to prevent it. The way to prevent bad breath is to prevent gingivitis in advance by preventing plaque from forming with proper brushing.
Plaque is a bacterial film that forms on the surface of teeth after only an hour or two if not cleaned immediately after eating. It is difficult to see and cannot be easily removed by brushing.
When the bacteria in this bacterial film multiply and emit toxins, causing inflammation in the gums, gingivitis occurs, and if this continues, periodontitis occurs. Generally speaking, periodontitis refers to the condition of periodontitis.
Therefore, to prevent bad breath, first, to prevent gingivitis and prevent gingivitis, accurate brushing is the most important. At this time, proper brushing can effectively block the formation of plaque by continuing the 3-3 brushing method of brushing for 3 minutes within 3 minutes after every meal.
Next is diet. Avoid sweets and processed foods as much as possible, and eat vegetables, fruits, and meat that is high in fiber and chew for a long time. It cleans the teeth and inhibits the formation of plaque.
In addition, tension, stress, and overwork can lower the secretion of saliva, making it difficult to clean teeth, and chronic wasting disease or malnutrition can worsen periodontitis by lowering the defense against inflammation, so physical and mental stability and rest are essential. need.
8. Pay attention to the three health measures
The three health values referred to here are blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels.
⇒ Blood pressure means knowing whether you have high blood pressure or low blood pressure and manage it well. Hypertension is usually defined as a systolic blood pressure of 140 or higher and a diastolic blood pressure of 90 or higher.
Because blood pressure can vary by 10 to 20 depending on the time taken during the day, it is not possible to diagnose hypertension with a single measurement. In general, high blood pressure is diagnosed when it is checked three or more times in a stable posture at a hospital.
Hypertension itself has no symptoms, but if left uncontrolled, high blood pressure can lead to complications such as heart disease or stroke, so it must be managed.
On the other hand, many people mistakenly think that hypotension is more dangerous than high blood pressure, but in general, there is nothing to worry about, except for low blood pressure caused by massive bleeding or shock. If you just feel dizzy, numb, or lethargic, you need management. In this case, it can be controlled to some extent with proper exercise and nutrition.
⇒ Blood sugar is normal if it is less than 100 on an empty stomach. 100 or more on an empty stomach or after a meal
A reading of 120 or more in 2 hours is suspected of diabetes. Diabetes, like high blood pressure, does not have major symptoms, but complications such as the optic nerve, heart, and kidneys may come. Thorough management is necessary because complications such as foot ulcers and stroke are scary.
⇒ Cholesterol level up to 250 is usually said to be normal, but strictly speaking, it is not normal if it is 170-200 or higher. Cholesterol comes through food, but it is also produced in the liver in our body, so it cannot be said that it is necessarily related to diet.
In general, cholesterol is a component that forms the cell membrane of all cells in our body, and it is not necessarily bad because it also plays an important role in the production of hormones that maintain physiological functions.
In particular, since the level of low-density lipoprotein is closely related to our health, it is wise to pay attention to the level of low-density lipoprotein rather than total cholesterol. A low-density lipoprotein level of 160 or higher is pathological, and especially if there is a person in the family who has suffered from heart disease, a low-density lipoprotein level of 130 or higher is evaluated as dangerous and subject to drug treatment.
9. Good health checkup
Even for people who are born with a healthy body, pathological phenomena are always occurring in the body, so it is necessary to detect this phenomenon early and treat it early. For example, even if a serious disease such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or cancer develops, no symptoms appear in the early stages, so regular health checkups are essential.
Recently, controversy over surgery due to early screening for thyroid cancer has become a hot social issue, but in any case, the prognosis of early cancer and late-stage cancer is quite different.
10. Old design
No matter how healthy you are, if you are financially poor, longevity will be a disaster. If you join the pension when you are young, by the magic of compound interest, it will snowball like a snowball when you receive the old-age pension. If you save a month’s cigarette costs by quitting smoking or join a pension by spending more time with children and saving money for private education, it’s good for your health, helps children’s emotional education, and prepares for old age. will be able to get
Dr. Kim Jin-mok said, “To prolong life, it is also important to prepare for cancer, which is the number one cause of death among Koreans. , and to actively practice moderate exercise.” At the very least, if you don’t get cancer, your chances of dying prematurely are lower.