The lifestyle choices you make, day in, day out, are what will largely determine how long you will live, and how healthy you will be. Cosmetic changes may only target the youthfulness of your appearance. But in order to master a healthy living that allows you to remain flexible and giddy even in old age, you have to follow proper dietary and lifestyle habits.

But what are these exactly? Here, we list a few of the essential basic habits that enable you to get on the right footing for a healthier, longer life. By keeping your health-promoting routine simple, you’re much more likely to stick to the habits that promote a super-healthy lifestyle.

  1. Stick to a Solid Sleep Routine

Ensuring you are getting a good night’s sleep can add years to your life. Numerous studies indicate that good sleep has an intrinsic link to living longer and healthier. When you deprive yourself of sleep, you’re more prone to dying a premature death sourced by accidents or disease. It’s been proven time and time again that good sleep helps you ward off stress, stave off weight gain and elevate your energy levels. It also is vital for learning and memory retention.

Sleeping every night for seven to nine hours is about right for most individuals. If you like to take cat naps during the day, keep it to a maximum of 25 minutes. Also, make sure to create an adequate sleeping environment. Don’t watch TV or surf the Internet in an hour or two before you go to bed. Eat a small dinner early. It’s important to not be in the middle of a full digestive cycle when you go to bed as this can dampen the quality of your sleep.

  1. Eat Whole Foods

You are what you eat. Opting to eat whole foods instead of processed, junk foods will do a lot to steer your body into a zone of optimum health. By focusing on eating fruits and vegetables and just a fist-sized serving of protein (meat or vegetable sources of protein) a few times a week will ensure you have a long and healthy life. In particular, consuming plenty of G-BOMBS foods — that is, Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries and Seeds — will help you ward off cancer and avoid accumulating a thicker waistline.

  1. Exercise

Exercise is the enemy of many diseases, especially cancer. Partaking in regular intense aerobic activities, such as high-intensity circuits, running, swimming and rowing can lower your risk of developing cancer, such as colon cancer, by 24%, a joint University of Washington and Harvard University study has found. When you engage in regular cardio exercise training, you create an unfriendly environment for tumor growth, blood circulation is boosted, and your heart beats in optimal shape.

Incorporating a regular cardio set into your gym routine is certainly doable. You can embrace circuit training, run on a treadmill or run outside if you prefer outdoor scenery. Just be careful to not overextend yourself, as by doing so, you risk injury or burnout.

  1. Have More Sex

It’s been proven that you can live longer when you have more sex. A Welsh study found that adults who engaged in sex twice per week exhibited a lower mortality risk — about 50 percent — than couples who only had sex a few times a month. Sex triggers all kinds of health-promoting hormones and endorphins, which stave off stress and stir up more energy. In addition, it’s been proven that having a good relationship with your partner leads to a longer and healthier life.

  1. Kick the Smoking Habit

Researchers presently rank smoking as one of the 10 leading risk factors for death. Around 500,000 Americans die each year as a result of smoking-related diseases, such as lung disease, heart disease, stroke, and cancer, which eats up billions of dollars in health care costs and productivity hours. Fortunately, many present local and state laws make it easier for smokers to quit, such as barring smoking in most indoor establishments. At the same time, if you’re a smoker, take heart that quitting smoking allows you to reach a mortality risk that is about the same of that of a person who has never smoked. The earlier you quit smoking, the better. This should be easier now that smoking rates have decreased substantially in the United States.

About Author:

Denise Recalde is a Senior Content Writer at Day Translations, a human translation services company. A seasoned writer and editor with eleven years of experience under her belt, she is a bonafide wordsmith who loves playing with the written word creatively and always takes care to lend a certain hue of snap and color to her drafts. Always one to rise up to challenges, she has traveled to 14 countries and has worked on a smorgasbord of writing projects that spanned several industries, from finance to health to beauty and fashion.

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