Chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and stroke are the primary causes of reduced life expectancy, with combinations of these potentially shortening lifespan by 10–23 years. Other significant conditions include motor neurone disease, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and mental health disorders.
Further lifestyle risk factors that significantly reduce a person's life expectancy include: obesity* (3.1/3.2 years), excessive alcohol consumption** (3.1 years, men only), and a high intake of red meat (2.4 years in women; 1.4 years in men). However, a body mass index lower than 22.5 kg/ m2.
Cancer and Major Cardiovascular Disease: As discussed in chapter 8, cancer and cardiovascular disease are the overall leading causes of death, and they are especially high reasons for death in middle and late adults.
Medical professionals call high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, the silent killer because it can go undetected for a long period of time and leads to death. Most people who have high blood pressure do not have any symptoms; testing is the only way to determine if someone has it.
Life expectancy is greatly reduced for people with Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, and the average is less than six months. As of 1981, no one was known to have lived longer than 2.5 years after the onset of CJD symptoms.
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Progeria (pro-JEER-e-uh), also known as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, is an extremely rare, progressive genetic disorder. It causes children to age rapidly, starting in their first two years of life.
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Cardiovascular disease, also known as heart disease, refers to the following 4 entities: coronary artery disease (CAD) which is also referred to as coronary heart disease (CHD), cerebrovascular disease, peripheral artery disease (PAD), and aortic atherosclerosis.
“Smoking is one of the most harmful things people can do to themselves,” Dr. Maniar says. Blood flow drops, slashing oxygen that fuels the heart, which compensates by spiking blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm, and can lead to hardened and narrowed arteries and blood clots causing cardiovascular disease.
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich (PB&J) adds about 33 minutes to your healthy lifespan per serving, according to a University of Michigan study that measured life expectancy impacts of over 5,850 foods using the Health Nutritional Index (HNI). This sandwich tops the list for adding time, with nuts and seeds also being highly beneficial (around 25 mins) and processed items like hot dogs subtracting time.
There's no single "hardest" chronic illness, as impact varies, but conditions like ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), which causes progressive paralysis; severe neurological pain conditions like Trigeminal Neuralgia, leading to extreme facial shock-like pain; and debilitating respiratory diseases like COPD, making breathing difficult, are often cited due to their profound effect on daily function, independence, and quality of life. Other tough chronic illnesses include severe autoimmune disorders, advanced heart/kidney disease, and dementia, impacting mental and physical capacity significantly.
Alcohol: Drinking too much alcohol can dehydrate and damage your skin over time, leading to signs of premature aging. Poor sleep: Studies show that low quality (or not enough) sleep makes your cells age faster. Stress: When you're stressed, your brain pumps out cortisol, a stress hormone.
Women who weighed less at age 20 and put on less weight as they aged were more likely to live longer than heavier women. Height played a major factor: the study found women who were taller than 5 feet 9 inches were 31% more likely to live into their 90s than women who were less than 5 feet 3 inches.
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Key Takeaways
Some drinks can help lower your blood pressure, including:
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Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) Hypertension, often nicknamed the “silent killer,” is one of the most common health problems worldwide, affecting over 1.4 billion adults in 2024 alone.
Huntington disease is an inherited, neurodegenerative disorder. If a parent has the condition, each child will have a 50% chance of developing the disease.
Hutchinson-Gilford progeroid syndrome (HGPS) is an extremely rare autosomal dominant genetic disorder in which symptoms resembling aspects of aging are manifested at an early age.
Exercise is one of the most important tools to slow down biological aging and prevent age-related diseases, says Topol.
Often referred to as an “old man's “ disease, mesothelioma predominantly affects males following occupational exposure to asbestos.