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Reach your 90's

A new study has shown living well into your 90's is not due to good genes. A healthy lifestyle will get you there in good health.

Dr Yates from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts published the research in the Archives of Internal Medcine.

The long life study

Researchers analyzed data of over 2300 men of an average age of 72 years. For more than 20 years they had a yearly assessment of their; weight, medical conditions, exercise habits and other health information.

By 2006, 970 of the men had had a 90th birthday. The researchers looked at the common characteristic of this group.

The most important factors for a long life are;

• not smoking
• having healthy weight levels (BMI under 25)
• regular 'vigorous' exercise
• not having high blood pressure
• not having diabetes

Overall, smoking has the greatest negative affect on living a long life, followed by diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure.

Researchers conclusion

Dr Yates said, "This study looked for factors that were modifiable - you can control your weight, you can modify whether or not you exercise - and showed how important they are for long life."

He added, "Equally important, these factors were associated with less disease so that people had more years of good health."

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