Top 10 Things to Do in Your 20s for a Long, Healthy Life

By Mark Stibich, Ph.D., About.com

Longevity may not be the first thing on your mind in your 20s, but there are things you can do right now that will help to assure you a long, healthy life. It is easier to build healthy habits now then to try to change them later. Here are some things you can do to improve your life expectancy.

1. Avoid Accidents and Violence

The top three leading causes of death for people in their 20s are accidents, homicide and suicide. You can make sure you make it through your 20s by buckling your seat belt, avoiding dangerous situations, and seeking help if you need it.

2. Don't Smoke

Nothing chops years off your life faster than smoking. While the risks of smoking have been well publicized, an unbelievable 20% of adults still smoke. While smoking will take years off your life, it can also make many of the years that you do have rather miserable. The good news is that even if you smoke now, quitting will give you tremendous benefits.

3. Find & Maintain Friendships

Being in a good relationship can add up to 5 healthy years to your life. Your 20s are a good time to shop around, make a good choice about friends and significant others and learn about what you need in a relationship.

4. Establish an Exercise Routine

Use your 20s to establish a healthy exercise schedule. Figure out what kind of exercise you like and what works with your schedule. The most important thing is the routine. Exercise at least 3 times per week. You'll have more energy and fitness now and you will establish a lifelong habit of exercising.

5. Establish Healthy Eating Habits

Heart disease is the number one killer in the US and it is also largely preventable. Take time now to establish lifelong eating habits. Learn to control your portion size, slow down your eating, choose whole grains and vegetables, and avoid unhealthy fats.

6. Have Friends

Studies have also shown that people with a strong friendship network live longer and healthier. Friends are easy to form in your 20s before you get settled in a career, a relationship and a family. Invest in your friendships, take a trip together, make those phone calls.

7. Learn to Relax

Stress also drains away health, both now and in the future. Chronic stress contributes to heart disease, stroke, and many other illness. Learn simple relaxation techniques, laugh a lot, and enjoy life.

8. Find Healthy Work

Demands from work can place a huge burden on our health. Stress, long hours, and strained relationships can reduce our life expectancy. Find work that is healthy, meaningful and fulfilling.

9. Have a Purpose

Having a purpose can add healthy years to your life. Studies have shown that people who attend religious services live longer than those who do not. Find a way to maintain a deep sense of meaning in your life to give direction now and for decades to come.

10. Change How You Think About Aging

Studies show that having a positive perception about aging can add 7 years to your life. Aging is not an inevitable decline in function and ability. If you adopt healthy behaviors now, you can have health into your 90s and beyond.

Health Risk Factors and Quality of Life

Smoking, Alcohol, Inactivity and Obesity

QALYs (quality-adjusted life years) are a way researchers can look at the total impact of a risk factor on quality of life. QALYs combine reductions in life expectancy with loss of health causing disability and pain. The calculations can be complex, but the way to think about QALYs is the number of healthy, disability-free years of life. Here are some risk factors and their QALY number.

Smoking and Quality of Life

A 25 year old who smokes can expect to lose 10 to 11 QALYs compared to a person who never smoked.

High Alcohol Consumption and Quality of Life

A 25 year old who drinks can expect to loose 5 (men) or 3 (women) QALYs compared to someone who drinks less.

Physical Activity and Quality of Life

A 25 year old who is inactive can expect to lose 7 QALYs compared to someone who is active.

Obesity and Quality of Life

An obese 25 year old can expect to lose 3 (men) or 6 (women) QALYs compared to a person with healthy weight.

Quality of Life and Risk Factors

As the numbers above show, health risk factors impact more than just life expectancy -- they decrease a person's health span (the number of years a person lives without illness or disability). Remember that when looking at these numbers, a 25-year-old person has about 55 years of life remaining (on average, give or take). The goal is to have 55 QALYs as well (in other have all those years be healthy). A loss of 5.5 QALYs means a loss of 10% of potential health. That is extremely significant. So eliminate those risk factors and regain your QALYs.

_Source:

_{Brønnum-Hansen H, Juel K, Davidsen M, Sørensen J. Impact of selected risk factors on quality-adjusted life expectancy in Denmark.Scand J Public Health. 2007 May 4;:1-6.}

Which factors determine our quality of life, health and ability?

It seems that the factors important for present QOL and health is derived from good relations, with the close as well as the distant world, and overall view of life. What one possesses in objective terms--money, status, work--does not seem to be important to global quality of life and of little importance to self-assessed health. The results indicate that what is really important is not what one has, but how he sees, evaluates and experiences what he has. The person's level of consciousness and responsible attitude towards life and others seem far more important for the global quality of life and health.


Results from a Danish population sample and the Copenhagen perinatal cohort.

Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons--Pakistan : JCPSP 2008;18(7):445-50.

Exercise Improves Physical Health, Quality Of Life For Breast Cancer Survivors

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have found that exercise decreases pain and helps breast cancer survivors feel healthier and increase participation in daily activities.

The Active for Life after Breast Cancer Study, published Friday in the journal, Patient Education and Counseling, evaluated the effect of exercise on former cancer patients' physical well-being.

Approximately 60 breast cancer survivors, randomly placed in a lifestyle intervention group or a standard care control group, participated in the six-month, 21-session study. Researchers taught participants to incorporate short periods of moderate exercise into their daily routines, which included 30 minutes of physical exercise at least five days per week.

According to Karen Basen-Engquist, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and associate professor of behavioral science at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, study leaders informed participants that they should still be able to talk while exercising at a moderate level, but they should not be able to sing during the activity. Lifestyle intervention participants met weekly for four months and then semi-weekly for two months to learn cognitive and behavioral skills to support effective behavioral change.

Study leaders emphasized that physical activity need not be an organized, lengthy endeavor, but rather a lifestyle activity that could include vacuuming, brisk walking or climbing stairs rather than taking the elevator.

"The wonderful take-away message from this study is that simple exercises, such as walking during coffee breaks or parking further away from work, can have beneficial effects on physical health and functioning," said Basen-Engquist. "Exercise doesn't need to be a daunting activity or even an organized outing to reap significant rewards for breast cancer survivors."

The study examined barriers to increasing physical activity, including time restraints, other commitments, fatigue, pain or muscle problems, incontinence, hot flashes and premature menopause due to chemotherapy.

"We found that exercise improved participants' ability to perform certain physical tasks, increased self reports of feeling healthy and decreased pain and the degree to which their activities were limited by physical health problems," said Basen-Engquist.

She notes that study leaders invited participation from a pool of breast cancer survivors who had recently completed both radiation and chemotherapy. Women who maintained primarily sedentary lifestyles were chosen as ideal candidates "because we wanted to see if through the study they would integrate exercise into their daily lives," said Basen-Engquist.

Researchers at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center partnered with the Kelsey Research Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of patient care and health outcomes through research and education; Kelsey-Seybold, a large, multi-specialty health care clinic; the Houston chapter of the Sisters' Network, a support and advocacy group for African-American breast cancer survivors; and The Rose, a Houston non-profit agency that sponsors support groups for breast cancer survivors, in recruiting study participants.

"One of the goals of our cancer program is to improve the quality of life of our cancer survivors," said Anthony Greisinger, Ph.D., executive director of the Kelsey Research Foundation. "Our staff was encouraged by Dr. Basen-Engquist's positive findings and we hope to evaluate this exercise intervention in a larger study with M. D. Anderson Cancer Center."

At baseline and again six months later, researchers administered physical and emotional assessments using self-report questionnaires, five physical performance tests and seven-day physical activity recall interviews.

At the conclusion of the study, researchers asked both the lifestyle intervention group and the standard care control group to walk as far as possible in six minutes. Participants who received lifestyle intervention training showed significant physical improvement, walking an average of 100 feet further than their control group peers.


Article adapted by Medical News Today

Malaysia Quality of Life

HEALTH

Vision for Health

“Malaysia is to be a nation of healthy individuals, families and communities, through a health system that is equitable, affordable, efficient, technologically appropriate, environmentally adaptable and consumer-friendly, with emphasis on quality, innovation, health promotion and respect for human dignity, and which promotes individual responsibility and community participation towards an enhanced quality of life. The mission of the Ministry of Health towards the achievement of the Vision for Health is to build partnerships for health, to facilitate and support the people to attain fully their potential in health, to appreciate health as a valuable asset and take positive action to improve further and sustain the health status of individuals, families and communities through health promotion, prevention, curative and rehabilitative services so as to enable all to lead a socially and economically productive life, and enjoy a better quality of life”.

Source: Ministry of Health, Malaysia

Considerable improvements were achieved in the health status of the nation. This was the direct result of the Government’s commitment and advocacy of health as a social responsibility. This commitment is based on the recognition that health is an integral part of the development process and instrumental to effect socio-economic change and hence, the quality of life. Malaysian health care is a mixed public-private system, which operates in parallel with heavy involvement of the public-sector in the provision of health services. Malaysia’s health status is comparable to that of developed countries especially in terms of life expectancy at birth and infant mortality rate.

The health status of the population, measured by the Health Index in the MQLI, mirrors the achievement of the health sector. During the period 1990-2002, significant improvements were made in the standard of health as reflected by the increase in the health index. The health index, as measured by the infant mortality rate, life expectancy at birth and the doctor population ratio, increased by 15.8 points. This was mainly due to the implementation of programs for the improvement of the quality of health services.

The infant mortality rate, one of the most significant indicators of the overall health and nutritional status of the nation, improved from 13.3 per thousand live births in 1990 to an impressive 5.7 in 2002, indicating the country’s achievement comparable to that of developed countries. Rural and public health programs such as immunization, maternal and child-care, nutrition, water sanitation and health education contributed to this improvement.

Life expectancy at birth for both male and female improved from 68.9 to 70.4 years and from 73.5 to 75.3 years, respectively from 1990 to 2002. This is largely attributed to significant improvements in access to health and medical services as well as the increased emphasis on promotive and preventive services.

The doctor-population ratio also improved from one doctor per 2,582 in 1990 to 1,406 in 2002. The increase in the number of doctors was due to concerted efforts that were taken during the period, including the expansion in the intake of medical students into local institutions of higher learning, recruitment of foreign doctors and specialists as well as the re-employment of retired doctors and specialists on a contract basis.

Major Measures Undertaken to Improve Health, 1990-2002

Promotive and Preventive Health Services

• Healthy lifestyle campaigns focusing on healthy behavior, healthy eating, exercise and fitness, good mental health and abstinence from smoking and dadah emphasized Promotion of Healthy Families in 2001 and promotion of Healthy Environment in 2002.
• In 2001 CERAH or Cegah Rokok, Alkohol dan Dadah was introduced to encourage youth to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
• Health education programmes were intensified to provide knowledge and information towards ensuring a healthy lifestyle. These include programmes on Cardiovascular Disease (1991), Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)(1992), Food Hygiene (1993), Promotion of Child Health (1994) and Prevention of Cancer(1995).
• An expanded program of immunization was continued for the prevention of diphtheria, prussic, tetanus, poliomyelitis and tuberculosis.
• Nutritional programs were incorporated into the Program Pembangunan Rakyat Termiskin (PPRT).
• The food quality control program was continued to ensure that the public consumed safe and nutritious food.
• The environmental health and sanitation program continued to ensure safe water to rural communities.
• The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health was established in 1992 to provide training in occupational safety and health, disseminate information on preventive measures, promote healthy and safe practices at work and conduct research as well as provide consultancy services.

Curative Health Services

• Curative health care facilities such as hospitals and polyclinics improved significantly through the provision of upgraded services and modern diagnostic equipment which included Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computerized Tomography (CT) Scan, mammography equipment as well as echo cardiography and stress test equipment.
• Specialist facilities and services were improved
• General outpatient and pharmaceutical services were expanded

Medical Research and Development

• Medical research and development activities were aimed at improving the diagnosis, management and prevention of infectious diseases with emphasis given to biomedical, clinical, epidemiological and behavioral research.

HEALTH as indicator of QOL

Definition of Quality of Life

The degree to which a person enjoys the important possibilities of his/her life. Possibilities result from the opportunities and limitations each person has in his/her life and reflect the interaction of personal and environmental factors. Enjoyment has two components: the experience of satisfaction and the possession or achievement of some characteristic, as illustrated by the expression: "She enjoys good health." Three major life domains are identified: Being, Belonging, and Becoming. The conceptualization of Being, Belonging, and Becoming as the domains of quality of life were developed from the insights of various writers.

The Being domain includes the basic aspects of "who one is" and has three sub-domains. Physical Being includes aspects of physical health, personal hygiene, nutrition, exercise, grooming, clothing, and physical appearance. Psychological Being includes the person's psychological health and adjustment, cognitions, feelings, and evaluations concerning the self, and self-control. Spiritual Being reflects personal values, personal standards of conduct, and spiritual beliefs which may or may not be associated with organized religions.

Belonging includes the person's fit with his/her environments and also has three sub-domains. Physical Belonging is defined as the connections the person has with his/her physical environments such as home, workplace, neighbourhood, school and community. Social Belonging includes links with social environments and includes the sense of acceptance by intimate others, family, friends, co-workers, and neighbourhood and community. Community Belonging represents access to resources normally available to community members, such as adequate income, health and social services, employment, educational and recreational programs, and community activities.

Becoming refers to the purposeful activities carried out to achieve personal goals, hopes, and wishes. Practical Becoming describes day-to-day actions such as domestic activities, paid work, school or volunteer activities, and seeing to health or social needs. Leisure Becoming includes activities that promote relaxation and stress reduction. These include card games, neighbourhood walks, and family visits, or longer duration activities such as vacations or holidays. Growth Becoming activities promote the improvement or maintenance of knowledge and skills.

- Quality of Life Research Unit, University of Toronto

The purpose of the Quality of Life Index (QOLI) is to provide a tool for community development which can be used to monitor key indicators that encompass the social, health, environmental and economic dimensions of the quality of life in the community. The QLI can be used to comment frequently on key issues that affect people and contribute to the public debate about how to improve the quality of life in the community. It is intended to monitor conditions which affect the living and working conditions of people and focus community action on ways to improve health. Indicators for the QOLI include:

• SOCIAL: Children in care of Children´s Aid Societies; social assistance beneficiaries; public housing waiting lists etc.
• HEALTH: Low birth weight babies; elderly waiting for placement in long term care facilities; suicide rates etc.
• ECONOMIC: Number of people unemployed; number of people working; bankruptcies etc.
• ENVIRONMENTAL: Hours of moderate/poor air quality; environmental spills; tonnes diverted from landfill to blue boxes etc.

Quality of Life is the product of the interplay among social, health, economic and environmental conditions which affect human and social development.

Ontario Social Development Council, 1997