Staying Healthy Can Offset Genetics, Add Years to Life
Our genes can have a big impact on our health, some of the decisions we take and how long we live.
However, according to a large new study, making healthy choices can offset the effect of genetics when it comes to the length of our life.
The study found that having a healthy lifestyle could add five years to the life of people who are genetically predisposed to have shorter life expectancies.
The researchers, from Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, said that this was the first study of its kind.
They looked at data from more than 350,000 people — all of European ancestry — using the UK Biobank. This is a very large database often used by researchers.
People were recruited to the study between 2006 and 2010, and their health was tracked for an average of almost 13 years.
The research team put people into one of three categories — long, medium and short — depending on their expected lifespan, based on genetics.
They also looked at the participants' lifestyles, including things like their diets, the amount of sleep they got, the exercise they did and whether or not they smoked or drank alcohol.
During the follow-up period, about 24,000 people died.
The researchers found that people who had unhealthy lifestyles were 78% more likely to have an early death, regardless of their genetic predisposition.
But those who had a high risk of a shortened lifespan — based on their genes — could increase their life expectancy by 5.5 years at the age of 40 by choosing a healthy lifestyle.
They added that if people wanted their healthy choices to have an effect on their lifespans, they should make these changes before middle age.
The four most important things that make up an "optimal lifestyle combination," according to the study, were not smoking, doing regular physical activity, getting good sleep and eating healthily.
