Smart Living: Add Healthy Years To Your Life

By: Melanie Bloom - Email

Posted: Tue 3:16 PM, Mar 12, 2013

The average American woman can expect to live to about age 80.

If you want to live longer than the average, you have to get started now, so you can add more healthy years to your life.

The first piece of advice is to ditch the cigarettes. Lighting up kills just under half a million people in the U.S. each year.

New research shows women who stop smoking before age 40 can live a decade longer than those who keep puffing

Another recommendation is to enjoy alcohol in moderation.

Moderate drinkers slash their risk of heart disease by up to 40%.

Try red wine from Madiran, France. It has up to five times as many of the antioxidants that improve vessel function.

Another tip is to do your own housework. A recent study found 150 calories worth of chores a day can lower high blood pressure by 13 points for eight hours.

University of Maryland scientists found that watching 15 minutes of funny videos can improve blood flow to your heart by 50%.

A 30 minute nap can also reduce heart mortality by 37%.

Scientists at Purdue found that constant worrying shortens your lifespan by about 16 years.

Also, maintain a healthy waistline.

Health experts recommend that you measure your waistline around where your navel is. That number should be less than half your height. So if you're 5'2", your waist should be less than 31 inches.

Another life extending tip is to stand up as often as you can. One researcher in Canada found that cutting the amount of time you sit can lower your risk of prostate cancer by 10%, lung cancer by 20% and colon cancer by 30%.