The Dinner That Could Help You Live Longer

Posted on April 9, 2013 by admin

As if you really needed convincing, here’s one more reason to order that salmon avocado roll: Higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and death in adults over age 65, according to a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Most observational studies on the topic have relied on self-reported fish consumption. But for this long-term observational study, researchers examined the blood levels of three kinds of omega-3s in about 2,700 participants aged 65 and older. The study tracked those participants for 16 years, and the participants with the highest omega-3 levels in their blood lived, on average, 2.2 years longer than those with the lowest levels.

The people with the highest blood omega-3 levels also had a 27 percent lower risk of dying from all causes when compared to the people with the lowest blood omega-3 levels. The risk of death from coronary heart disease in particular was significantly lower.

While this study followed older adults, the findings are relevant to younger people, as well, says lead study researcher Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, doctor of public health and an associate professor in the department of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. “If you start at a young age and eat fish your whole life, the benefits could be even greater,” he says.

That’s particularly true since the good news about seafood keeps rolling in: In a study presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting, omega-3 were shown to considerably slow or even stop the proliferation of triple-negative breast cancer cells. Another new animal study published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that fish oil has immune-boosting benefits and may be good for people with a compromised immune system.

So how much fish should you eat if you want to reap its health benefits? Try for an average of 400 milligrams per day, which you can get if you have fish twice per week, says Mozaffarian. (The omega-3s get into your tissues and last for several days, so you don’t have to eat it every single day.) Keep in mind that omega-3 content varies among the different fish species; fatty types like salmon, herring, anchovies, bass, trout, white tuna, and swordfish pack the most.

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

javahut healthy feed

Do Someone a Favor—You’ll Live Longer

Posted on February 11, 2013 by admin

Stressed? You could relax with a bath, massage, or yoga session. Better yet: run a bath for your roommate, give your guy a massage, or drop a friend off at her yoga class. People who help others are less likely to die after stressful events, according to a study recently published in American Journal of Public Health.

Research has shown that serious stressors–like losing a job or a loved one–can worsen your health and shorten your life. But among the 846 adults in this study, those who did good deeds for others were less likely to die in the five years that followed a major blow. On the other hand, people who didn’t do much for others weren’t as lucky: every stressful event they experienced led to 30 percent greater risk of death.

It’s not just karma at work here. When you focus your attention on someone else’s wellbeing, it actually reduces your stress–and the harmful effects on your health, says lead study author Michael Poulin, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo.

The best part: you don’t need to save the world, spend a ton, or go too far out of your way to reap the benefits. Just do something that’s local (read: convenient), enjoyable, and complimentary to your skill set, says Bill Coplin, Ph.D., author of How You Can Help: An Easy Guide to Doing Good Deeds in Your Everyday Life and director of the public affairs program at Syracuse University. Begin with these five ways to do unto others as you’d want done unto you:

Be the designated driver
Get behind the wheel on girls’ night out, and you’ll save everyone cash on cab fares. Even better: you’ll save yourself from high-calorie cocktails and the hangover sure to follow.

Pack a coworker’s lunch
Love to cook? Double your most delicious dinner recipe, and bring the leftovers to share with an officemate to give her a break from her own brown bag or typical takeout.

Split supersized groceries
At value stores like Costco or BJs, you get a lot more for your money–and a lot more in general. Instead of overstuffing your pantry, offer to split your bill and bounty with a neighbor. Chances are, her kids will eat the two extra pounds of grapes that you typically let ferment in your fridge.

Turn your hobbies into help
Want to practice your amateur photography skills, or use your social media prowess for greater good? Create a profile at Catchafire.org, a site that links professionals to nonprofit organizations that need a hand with anything from designing a new logo to bookkeeping, or planning an event.

Bring your pet to see some grandparents
After a trip to the vet or groomer, swing by the nearest nursing home and take Sparky for a stroll. Your pup will make every animal-lover’s day–and relish the extra attention.

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Jessica Alba’s go-to tips for making affordable, stylish nontoxic choices for your home and family! Buy The Honest Life today!

javahut healthy feed

Do Overweight Women Live Longer?

Posted on January 8, 2013 by admin

Constantly obsessing over those last five to ten pounds? Turns out the extra padding might actually be the key to longevity. According to a new study analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, overweight men and women have significantly less chance of dying from any cause – even when compared to those of normal weight.

Researchers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looked at nearly 100 studies and 2.88 million people to get a better idea of how weight and overall mortality are connected. They calculated the risk of death relative to those with a normal Body Mass Index (BMI of 18.5 to 24.9), and found that men and women classified as obese (BMI of greater than 30) had an 18 percent higher risk of death, but those who were overweight (BMI of 25 to 29.9) reduced their odds of all-mortality death by 6 percent.

“Our goal was to review 100 percent of the literature,” says lead study author Katherine Flegal, Ph.D. “In obese people the risk (of death) was higher, yet we found that in 70 percent of cases, in people who were modestly overweight, there was a lower mortality risk. It might have something to do with active adipose tissue producing beneficial functions that we don’t yet understand.”

If this new study sounds like a good reason not to worry about recent holiday weight gain, think twice before buying in. There could be some drawbacks to the research. “There are two possibilities,” says Steven Heymsfield, MD, of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge. “Either it’s a real finding that can actually help people, or it’s a statistical artifact. One of the issues is that the research inadvertently included sick people, who might lose weight because of illness.” In other words, a person who was overweight when she developed a condition could have fallen in the normal weight range at time of death. So, take this analysis with a grain of salt.

However, those few extra pounds might still generate positive effects. “Being a little overweight may have some protective benefits; maybe if you’re hospitalized and lose weight, or if you have extra padding in case of a fall,” Heymsfield says. More research would be needed to confirm this, though.

So how do you find a happy, healthy weight? Taking care of yourself is more important than hitting a number on the scale. Heymsfield identifies two rules of thumb: “If you’re overweight, try not to gain any more weight where you can enter into that dangerous obese range,” he says. (Remember, obesity was linked to an 18 percent higher mortality risk.) “Then, make sure blood pressure isn’t too high, blood sugar is okay, and check any of the other things that may put you at risk,” says Heymsfield. Make routine trips to your doc to make sure heart and organs are functioning properly, and cholesterol and other levels are normal.

If your body passes all tests with flying colors, then be mindful — but don’t obsess. “Let’s say you have no other risk factors,” Heymsfield says. “Then just stay fit and make sure to maintain a healthy diet. As long as a person’s keeping all aspects of their health in check, that’s what’s most important.”

Image: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Send your Metabolism Sky-High and Drop 15 Pounds in Six Weeks!

javahut healthy feed

Want to Live Longer? Have a Kid

Posted on December 13, 2012 by admin

Babies are more than a bundle of joy—they may also be an elixir of life. Turns out, both biological and adoptive parents live longer than people who don’t have children, according to a study recently published in Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

Danish researchers compared rates of death and psychiatric illness among 21,276 couples that underwent in vitro fertility treatments to get pregnant. During the 14-year study, over 15,000 women gave birth, more than 1,500 adopted a child, and almost 800 gave birth and adopted. Meanwhile, 5,354 women remained childless. Sadly, nearly 300 participants died during the study, and over 1,200 were diagnosed with mental health issues.

Compared to childless women, women who gave birth were four times more likely to survive the study, and adoptive mothers had a 33 percent lower rate of death. Both biological and adoptive fathers were about 50 percent less likely than childless men to die during the study. Overall, people without children were more likely to drink alcohol, and more likely to suffer from a fatal cardiovascular disease or accident. However, parents were just as susceptible to mental illness as non-parents.

While these findings are just associations, not proof of cause and effect, parents who survived the study were clearly doing something right. And because dads and adoptive parents benefit from having children, the health perks don’t appear to be the product of conception. “Parents may change their behavior to live more healthy lifestyles by eating healthier, drinking less, and giving up smoking, while the childless are more prone to continue or take up unhealthy habits,” says lead study author Esben Agerbo, Ph.D, a professor at Aarhus University in Denmark. Childless adults may also lead more risky lifestyles: just consider a parent who pushes a stroller down a quiet sidewalk, versus a non-parent who speeds down the street in a sports car. That mom or dad is probably safer.

If making babies isn’t on your bucket list, you can still make lifestyle changes to promote your wellbeing and longevity. Begin with the simplest way to guarantee you live longer, and then tackle these small changes for big rewards.

photo: Pixland/Pixland/Thinkstock

Find easy ways to look and feel good fast in Dr. Oz’s book You Being Beautiful

javahut healthy feed

The Secret to Living Longer

Posted on October 25, 2012 by admin

Want to live longer? Smile more. New research finds that the happiest people are almost three times less likely to die over a given period than the least happy people.

Of the 10,000 participants involved in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, 20 percent were expected to die over a nine-year period. Instead, 28 percent of the least happy people died, compared with approximately 9.9 percent of the self-reported happiest.

The study authors speculate that the boost in years has to do with longevity associated with psychological well-being—and also, lifestyle factors that tend to go hand in hand with being happy. Which makes sense: according to a study published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, happy people have lower levels of cortisol (the “stress hormone”) as well as lower blood pressure. Since high blood pressure is directly related to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, it pays to relax, if only for the sake of your health.

Here, three ways to add more bliss to your day-to-day.

Say Ohm
An easy way to unwind? Try yoga, says yoga instructor Sara Ivanhoe. If you’re feeling particularly frazzled, sit into a squat. According to Ivanhow, this pose grounds you by rooting your feet to the floor, and it also relaxes your stress-harboring back. Here’s how to do it (plus more poses to change your mood).

Start a Book Club
Another easy way to boost your happiness? Cultivate your social network. Research from the British National Child Development Study found that people who reported having six friends at age 50 (whom they saw regularly), were considerably happier than their peers. One easy way to see your friends more often it to put them on your calendar, says Gretchen Rubin, author Happier at Home and blogger for The Happiness Project. “It sounds funny to talk about efficiency with friendship, but the hardest thing about friendship is the time commitment,” says Rubin. But when you have a monthly group meeting—like a book club, or a cooking class—you can simultaneously deepen the relationships with close friends and broaden your social network as new ones join up.

Light a Candle
Need an instant pick-me-up? Sniff sandalwood. Science says smelling the deep aroma woodsy scents can act like a drug-free anti-depressant by increasing the production of endorphins, those feel-good hormones your body produces. If candles won’t cut it, try sniffing your way happy with these 7 powerful mood-altering fragrances.

Image: BananaStock/Thinkstock

javahut healthy feed

Athens Java Hut

Serving Jittery Joe's Coffee, Cecilia Villaveces, Cakes and Italian Gelato

Tag Archives: Longer

The Dinner That Could Help You Live Longer

Do Someone a Favor—You’ll Live Longer

Do Overweight Women Live Longer?

Want to Live Longer? Have a Kid

The Secret to Living Longer