To reduce the risk of alcohol-related harm, women should consume no more than 1 drink in a single day and no more than 7 drinks per week. Healthy men should drink no more than 2 drinks in a single day and no more than 14 drinks per week. To lower the risk of harm, all adults 65 and older should consume no more than 1 drink per day and no more than 7 drinks per week. As there is no known safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy, one should not drink any alcohol for a healthy outcome.
One should understand what is a Standard Drink. One standard drink contains about 0.6 fluid ounces or 14 grams of pure alcohol. Examples: 12 ounces of beer (about 5% alcohol), 5 ounces of wine (about 12% alcohol), or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits (about 40% alcohol) are all considered one standard drink. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) limits are based on research into alcohol’s effects on health, and they are designed to minimize the risk of alcohol-related harm, including disease, injury, and other negative consequences. People who extend these guidelines for a prolonged period can increase the risk for health problems.
To maintain a healthy, active long life, lifestyle habits have to be modified and updated from time to time. One has to eat a healthy diet. Should focus on plant-based foods, nuts, and healthy oils, and limit red and processed meats, high-fat dairy, and sugary foods.
Exercise Regularly:
One must make it as a habit for consistent physical activity, such as walking, swimming, or playing a sport, to maintain muscle mass, improve cardiovascular health, and support cognitive function. Getting enough sleep must be a priority, and 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night is crucial for immune function to reconstitute and maintain overall health. Quitting smoking can add years to life and significantly reduce the risk of many chronic diseases, while moderate alcohol consumption is linked to better heart health, as we discussed in detail in the previous episode; however, heavy drinking is harmful. Chronic stress can negatively impact health and longevity so managing stress should be kept in mind either by meditation, yoga or pranayama.
Regular Check-ups:
Achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight will reduce the risk of ailments like diabetes and heart disease. Join in a walker’s club or a laughers club to maintain strong social connections. Recent research has shown that those found in a supportive marriage can provide social and economic benefits which contribute to a longer life compared of living alone.
According to research published in the August 2021 issue of Physiology by Emily Willingham, Jean-Pierre Fizet, and Getty Images, ” Humans Could Live up to 150 Years, in a study that counts blood cells and footsteps to predict a hard limit to our longevity.
In Silicon Valley, immortality is sometimes elevated to the status of a corporeal goal. Plenty of big names in big tech have sunk funding into ventures aiming to solve the problem of death as if it were just an upgrade to the smartphone’s operating system. In Nature Communications published in May 2021, the researchers conclude in their findings. “They are asking the question of ‘What’s the longest life that could be lived by a human complex system if everything else went really well, and it’s in a stressor-free environment?'” says Heather Whitson, director of the Duke University Centre for the Study of Aging and Human Development, who was not involved in the paper. The team’s results point to an underlying “pace of aging” that sets the limits on life span. To evaluate deviations from stable health, they assessed changes in blood cell counts and the daily number of steps taken and analysed them by age group.
For both blood cell and step counts, the pattern was the same: as age increased, some factor beyond disease drove a predictable and incremental decline in the body’s ability to return blood cells or gait to a stable level after a disruption.
The researchers also found that with age, the body’s response to insults could increasingly range far from a stable normal, requiring more time for recovery. Whitson says this result makes sense: A healthy young person can produce a rapid physiological response to adjust to fluctuations and restore a personal norm. But in an older person, she says, “everything is just a little bit dampened, a little slower to respond, and you can get overshoots,” such as when an illness brings on big swings in blood pressure.
Researchers find that people who adopt eight healthy lifestyle habits by middle age could live substantially longer. Some of these habits included having good sleep, hygiene, and not smoking. Men who adopt all eight habits by age 40 would be predicted to live an average of 24 years longer than men with none of these habits. Women who adopted all eight habits by the age of 40 would be predicted to live an average of 23 years longer than women with none of these habits. A new observational study identified eight lifestyle habits that, when adopted by midlife, may extend an individual’s lifespan.
Eight identified habits
They are – being physically active, no smoking, managing stress, maintaining a good diet, not regularly drinking alcohol excessively, upholding good sleep, hygiene, preserving positive social relationships, and not developing an opioid addiction. There are many other factors, like good sexual health, consensual hugging, and daily exposure to sunlight, etc., that will be discussed in the next issue.
