Life expectancy is influenced not only by the traditional lifestyle-related risk factors but also by factors related to a person's quality of life, such as heavy stress.
Life expectancy is influenced not only by the traditional lifestyle-related risk factors but also by factors related to a person's quality of life, such as heavy stress. The biggest causes for shortened life expectancy for 30-year-old men are smoking and diabetes. Smoking takes 6.6 years and diabetes 6.5 years out of their life expectancy. Being under heavy stress shortens their life expectancy by 2.8 years.
These results are based on a study in which researchers from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare calculated the effects of multiple risk factors, including lifestyle-related ones, to the life expectancy of men and women.
The study also revealed that a lack of exercise strongly reduced the life expectancy of 30-year-old men – by 2.4 years. On the other hand, things such as the consumption of plenty of fruits and vegetables could increase life expectancy: eating fruit by 1.4 years and eating vegetables by 0.9 years.
The same factors impacted the life expectancy of both men and women. For 30-year-old women, e.g. smoking shortened the life expectancy by 5.5 years, diabetes by 5.3 years, and heavy stress by 2.3 years.
Read more at National Institute for Health and Welfare
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