European experts have shown that individuals with genetic disorders can avoid additional medical problems and extend their lifespan by adopting a healthy lifestyle.
According to the study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), researchers examined the lives, health, and genetic disorders of 350,000 Europeans over 13 years. The findings revealed that even individuals with genetic diseases can lead healthier and longer lives by maintaining a better lifestyle.
Experts concluded that by adopting a healthy lifestyle, genetic disorders can be managed more effectively, potentially extending life expectancy by up to six years. Key lifestyle changes include getting sufficient sleep, regular exercise, eating healthy foods, and avoiding smoking and alcohol.
The experts collected data from records and analyzed the participants’ lifestyles, health changes, and the development of illnesses.
The study divided the participants into three different groups to evaluate the impact of lifestyle choices on their health. The research highlighted that a healthy lifestyle tailors their diet, exercise, and daily routines to their specific needs to extend their lives.
Meanwhile, people with unhealthy lifestyles have a 78% increased chance of early death, regardless of their genetic risk, researchers from Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China and the University of Edinburgh found.
The study added that having an unhealthy lifestyle and shorter lifespan genes more than doubled the risk of early death compared with people with luckier genes and healthy lifestyles.
However, researchers found that people did appear to have a degree of control over what happened. The genetic risk of a shorter lifespan or premature death may be offset by a favourable lifestyle by about 62%, they found.
They wrote: “Participants with high genetic risk could prolong approximately 5.22 years of life expectancy at age 40 with a favourable lifestyle.” Woman tying shoelaces on running shoes Women benefit more than men from same amount of regular exercise . The “optimal lifestyle combination” for a longer life was found to be “never smoking, regular physical activity, adequate sleep duration and healthy diet”.
