Everything that you do has an impact on your lifespan. Your actions either add more years to your life expectancy or increase your mortality risk. If you want to live longer, it’s time to pay attention to every action that you do, especially your habits. Are your habits contributing to increasing the quality of your life? If not, it’s not too late to overcome your bad habits and change for the better.
Here are some bad habits that you must ditch if you want to be healthy and live longer:
Smoking and Drinking
In spite of the repeated warnings from health professionals, smoking and drinking are extremely common. For some, these can provide a temporary reprieve from life’s stresses. The benefits are temporary, but the negative effects on health can be ongoing.
Smoking and drinking are two of the main factors that can lead to chronic illnesses, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. When you stop smoking and drinking, not only will you be able to avoid their detrimental health effects, but you also look better and live longer.
Eating Processed and Junk Foods
French fries, burgers, soda – these are common snacks that most people find delicious and satisfying. However, processed foods and junk foods are bad for your health. They contain too much sodium, sugar, trans fats, and preservatives and chemicals that can lead to health issues.
These include diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and stroke. Avoiding these foods will help you keep your health in better shape, which consequently will increase your longevity.
Not Getting Enough Sleep at Night
You are a night owl. You are more productive at night. You enjoy the quiet and stillness of the wee hours. However, staying up too late and not getting enough sleep can decrease your lifespan. Getting a good night’s sleep of around seven to eight hours can improve the quality of your life.
Nighttime is the best time for the body to produce hormones and other chemicals that it needs to heal and recuperate. When you get quality sleep, you can more easily fight off depression, stress, and chronic diseases.
Holding a Grudge
Everyone has been wronged by someone in one way or another, and it’s so easy to fall into a pit of negative emotions. However, when you’re holding a grudge, you are the one who’s suffering. It keeps you stressed, and so your body is releasing more cortisol.
Worse, it’s not dissipating it as it should. Too much cortisol, and you’re going to experience problems with your metabolism, heart, and immune system.
Give yourself some time to dwell on what happened, but don’t get stuck in it. Forgive yourself and forgive others. It’s futile to blame other people, and what is done is done. You can’t change the past, but you can change your present. See how everything changes when you start to decide to release all the anguish.
Comparing Yourself to Others
Social media has become a huge part of many people’s lives. It keeps us connected with the people who matter to use even when we’re living miles away from each other. However, social media is also a great source of stress when you start to compare your life with others based on what you see in their posts.
Travels, beautiful houses, new cars, new gadgets – it’s so easy to feel sorry for yourself when you think that they are doing way much better than you. Browse mindfully and know that what you see on social media is just half of the story. People have their own personal battles, and what you see on their timelines are only the good things that they choose to share.
Also, what is your chapter 10 will not be the same as someone else’s chapter 20. Your time will come. In the meantime, spare yourself from stress and stop comparing. Stay positive and you’ll live longer, and live more joyously while you do.
The above habits sound simple enough to break, but it’s easier said than done. As the saying goes, old habits die hard. That said, you need to set a strong motivation to be able to replace them with good habits.
List down the benefits that you will reap from leaving the bad habits behind, and keep reminding yourself about them whenever you’re falling off the wagon. Set small goals, track your progress, and keep going.
