Article content
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live forever? Okay, maybe not forever, but long enough to see your grandchildren or even great-grandchildren grow up.
Not everyone is that lucky, however. Still, we are increasingly seeing more and more people reach advanced ages today.
The question is why today’s generation lives longer than the generations before us?
Of course, quality healthcare and better living conditions play a role. And perhaps something more. That’s exactly what we focus on in this article.
Living longer with wine?
What might be the secret of longevity? One study, aptly named the 90+ Study, began in 2003 to examine the oldest people, who are now the fastest growing segment of the population.
Participants in this study were also part of an earlier 1981 study that included over 14,000 people from California. By using information from both studies, researchers were able to determine what allows people to reach their 90s.
The goals were to determine the following:
- Identify factors associated with longevity.
- Explore the causes of dementia in the oldest individuals.
- Examine the degree of cognitive and functional decline in the oldest participants.
- Find clinical pathological correlations in the group of the oldest people.
- Identify risk factors for mortality and dementia.
Scientists visited study participants twice a year and conducted neurological and neurophysiological examinations. They also examined their eating habits, regularly performed activities, medical history, medications used and other lifestyle factors.
And one of their main findings was that moderate drinkers lived longer than total abstainers.
How much alcohol does “moderate” mean?
Drinking wine may help you live to an older age, but that doesn’t mean you should drink a whole bottle of wine every day!
Excessive alcohol consumption is already harmful.
If you’re not sure how much is still healthy and how much is not, the well-known American Mayo Clinic has the answer. It states that for a person over 65 it is one standard drink. For people under 65 it is 2 standard alcoholic drinks per day.
A standard drink is considered to be a small beer of 0.33 dcl or 0.4 dcl of 40% spirit or 1.5 dcl of wine.
As it turned out, such moderate drinking brings the following health benefits to the body:
- reduces the risk of developing and dying from heart disease
- reduces the risk of ischemic events (heart attack and stroke)
- reduces the risk of diabetes
So once in a while at dinner or after work feel free to enjoy a glass of beer or wine. Just make sure it’s one, at most two glasses, not more, because excessive alcohol consumption can cause a number of serious health problems.
Unfortunately, excessive drinking is fairly common these days, even though it is known to be quite risky.
How alcohol and exercise help longevity
The key here is the aforementioned moderation, but we must not forget exercise either.
A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine focused on how exercise can negate the effects of excessive alcohol consumption.
Researchers examined 36,370 participants over 40 years old, whom they divided into 3 groups.
The first group was not very active, the second performed moderate-intensity physical activities and the third exercised the most. They then examined the impact of alcohol on these 3 groups.
They found that excessive drinking increased the risk of death from all causes. They also found that the more alcoholic drinks a person consumed per week, the greater the risk of cancer.
However, when the amount of recommended physical activity (150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week) was taken into account, it was able to completely erase the increased cancer risk.
Exercise also erased the risk of death from all other causes.
Conclusion
These links between longevity, alcohol and exercise are indeed interesting.
So next time you decide to have a glass of beer or wine, consider going for a run or doing some exercise beforehand. That way you’re almost guaranteed to reach 90!
