Improve Longevity By Finding Time Each Year To Do This

Life expectancy statistics bring so much hope in 2020, particularly when tracing the origins of the data. The huge increase in global life expectancy over the past few decades displays a truly pleasing picture. This upward trend may be attributed in part to pioneering studies in the field of medicine and science.

The findings from both kinds of research continue to add weight to universally accepted facts like how eating a healthy and balanced diet can prevent the development of life-threatening ailments. Going on a holiday has also been proven by many meticulous studies to be good for your health.

In one such study covering a period of 40 years, going on vacation can help extend your lifespan. The results of the study were published in The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging.

The Vacation and Life Span Link

Researchers, to prove such a hypothesis, analyzed data on more than 1,000 male executives in their middle age who were born between 1919 and 1934. These participants were asked to join the Helsinki Businessmen Study in 1974 and 1975.

Each of the volunteers had at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor like high cholesterol, glucose intolerance, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and high triglyceride levels. They were then divided into a control group comprising of 610 men and an intervention group consisting of 612 men and observed for five years.

The intervention group, during that time, received written and oral advice every four months to perform aerobic physical activity, consume a healthy diet, attain a healthy weight, and quit smoking. They also received drugs, like beta-blockers and diuretics, which were recommended during that time to reduce their blood pressure. They were also given lipids like clofibrate and probucol.

Those in the control group received the usual healthcare and were not examined by the investigators. As expected, those in the intervention group enjoyed a lower cardiovascular disease risk of 46% compared to the control group at the end of the study.

A 15-year follow-up conducted in 1989, however, showed more deaths occurred in the intervention group compared to the control group. The surprising discovery made the researchers conduct some deeper investigation. They found that shorter vacations are linked to more deaths occurring in the intervention group.

3 Weeks is the Golden Number

They found that those who only had 3 weeks or less of annual vacation had an increased 37% chance of dying as compared to those who had more. The data they looked at was between 1974 to 2004.

As per the professors who analyzed the findings, they revealed that men who had shorter vacations slept less, and they were the ones to worked more. In short, they had a stressful lifestyle.

In conclusion, Professor Timo Strandberg from the University of Helsinki in Finland said that the results of the study suggest that reducing stress is also essential in programs that aim to reduce cardiovascular risk. A healthy lifestyle and reducing stress may be among the most effective keys to prolonging life.