August 23, 2017 – Health Talk: 5 Simple Tips & Tricks On Staying Healthy & Enjoying A Long Life

While death is inevitable, living over 100 years is a feat most people want to achieve.

This is very possible when good health is actualized.

Here are five simple tips and tricks on how to stay in good health and enjoy a healthy long life

Eat right:

A comprehensive review of thousands of studies on diet, physical activity, and weight conducted for the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research pointed to the benefits of eating mostly foods of plant origin. Fruits and vegetables such as carrots, red tomatoes, grapes, avocados, berries, apple and garlic showed some of the strongest links to cancer prevention. They’re low in calories and fat and packed with phytochemicals and antioxidants that may help reduce your cancer risk and increases your chances of living a long healthy life. Green tea, avocados, walnuts, have also been observed through research to make people look younger and fresher.

However, you should be careful with the intake of these fruits and vegetables as antioxidants can be dangerous to health.

Adding extra unnecessary antioxidants (vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin A) to our diet can be dangerous. You can eat as many fruits as you like but don’t forget that almost all things are poisonous in large enough quantities – even water, though you would have to drink an awful lot to kill you.

A Cochrane Review published in 2016, which looked at the results of hundreds of individual studies, found out that current evidence does not support the use of antioxidant supplements in the general population or in patients with various diseases as they could increase the chances of death for such patients, they advised for moderate intake of fruits to achieve maximum health optimization.

Get up and move about:

New Research in Public library of science (PLOS) Medicine 2009, has actually put a number on the benefits of physical exercise, finding that 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week (think: 5 days of 30-minute workouts, like walking, bicycling, or hiking) will earn you an extra 3.4 years, and even just 75 minutes a week (that’s 10 minutes a day!) could extend your life by 1.8 years. Exercise is good for you. Really good for you! So whether you’ve been sidelined due to an injury or are just straight-up lazy lately, do what it takes to safely get yourself back in the game—because even 10 minutes a day will stretch your lifespan.

Turn off the Television:

Too much time in front of the television can take a serious toll on your health. A team of researchers at Tohoku University in Japan, led by neuroscientist Hikaru Takeuchi, first published findings on a study that people who watched television four or more hours a day were 46% more likely to die from any cause than people who watched less than two hours a day.

Even cutting back a little can help because they found out that each additional hour you watch television increases your overall risk of dying by 11% and dying from heart disease by 18%.

Stay out of the sun:

Avoiding too much sun can head off skin cancer, and it can also keep you looking young by preventing wrinkles, fine lines, and saggy skin. Although Nigeria can be very sunny, It’s never too early or too late to add sunscreen to your daily skincare regimen and don’t focus only on your face, your chest and feet can also get splotches and spots when you ignore them. You can also walk around with an umbrella to avoid the harsh impact of the sun on your skin especially in Nigeria.

Quit smoking:

This is perhaps the most important thing you can do to postpone your burial. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that people who quit smoking by age 35 add roughly six to eight years to their lives.

It’s never too late to kick the habit. Quitting can slow disease and increase survival odds even in smokers who have already caused significant damage to their lungs, like those with early lung cancer.

[By Joseph Jennifer ]