8 Habits That Can Slow Aging and Reduce Risk of Death Revealed

“Eight” all the way.

Researchers believe that adopting eight healthy behaviors – identified by the American Heart Association as the 8 Essentials of Life – can slow the aging process and reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and death.

“Our message is that everyone should be aware of the eight health factors linked to heart disease and stroke: eating healthy foods; be more active; stop smoking; sleep healthily; manage weight; and maintain healthy levels of cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure,” lead study author Jiantao Ma said in a statement.

For the study, 5,682 adult subjects were assigned a cardiovascular health score, from 0 to 100, based on four behavioral measures (dietary intake, physical activity, hours of sleep per night, and smoking) and four clinical measures (mass index body, cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure).

The researchers also calculated the age of the participants’ cells, a measure otherwise known as biological age. Biological age is determined by genetics, environmental exposures, and lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, and sleep habits, while chronological age refers to the number of years old. ‘a person is alive.

The study authors used the process of chemical modification of DNA methylation to estimate biological age and examined each individual’s genetic tendency toward accelerated biological aging.

Participants were followed for 11 to 14 years to see if they developed cardiovascular disease or died.

The leading cause of death worldwide, cardiovascular disease includes heart failure, heart attacks and stroke.

The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, found that those who scored higher on all eight measures were less likely to develop cardiovascular disease.

Each 13-point increase in participants’ scores reduced their risk of developing a first cardiovascular disease by about 35%, dying from cardiovascular disease by 36%, and dying from any cause by 29%.

People with rapid cellular aging can compensate for this increased risk by managing their heart disease risk factors and adopting more heart-healthy behaviors, researchers said.

“Our study results tell us that regardless of your actual age, better heart-healthy behaviors and better management of heart disease risk factors were associated with younger biological age and lower risk of the disease. heart disease and stroke, death from heart disease and stroke and death from any cause,” Ma said.

His team plans to expand their research to include people from more diverse ethnic groups to further study the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors and biological age.

The new findings reinforce the results of a November study that showed that following Life’s Essential 8 checklist can slow biological aging by an average of six years.