Wouldn’t it be lovely to enjoy a long lifespan and live up to a ripe old age – enough to see your grandchildren grow up, and maybe even meet your great-grandchildren?
Reaching 90 years of age certainly comes with its perks, and the secret to this might be a little more surprising than you think!
In 2003, researchers began a study called the 90+ Study based on the results of the Leisure World Cohort Study of 1981.
This older study was conducted in a retirement community called Leisure World, located in Orange County, California, and involved a huge 14,000 participants who filled out surveys that were mailed straight to them.
All participants involved in the 90+ Study were the same involved in the LWCS one, too.
The 90+ Study aimed to find factors that influenced long lives, investigate decline in functional and cognitive skills, seek out dementia’s epidemiology and any other pathological correlations clinically, and find if there were any risk factors that could be modified between dementia and mortality.
This was all under the investigation into what could allow individuals to live beyond the age of 90.
In order to carry out the study, all participants would be visited by researchers with Laguna Woods’ Clinic for Aging Research and Education twice every year.
These participants would undergo a variety of neurophysiological and also neurological tests.
These researches also compiled data on the participants’ daily lives, including their diet, lifestyle, and activities, as well as information about their medications and medical history.
There were plenty of findings that came out of this study.
One of the most interesting was that those who drank alcohol in moderate amounts enjoyed a longer life than those who preferred not to drink any alcohol at all. (Similar results were found for coffee drinkers, too, but that’s a little less interesting!)
Do note that this doesn’t mean you should be downing full bottles or 6-packs every day.
Moderation and balance are key, as with everything in life.
For those aged 65 and up, a moderate amount of alcohol would be approximately 1 drink – or, 12 oz of beer, 1.5 oz of distilled spirits, or 5 oz of wine.
For those under 65, moderation is about 2 drinks.
So why does alcohol, in moderate amounts, seem to provide benefits at all?
Apparently, consuming balanced amounts of alcoholic beverages can reduce the chances of an individual developing stroke, diabetes, and even heart disease.
When done in tandem with exercise, there are even more benefits, as exercise has been shown to decrease some of the possible negative effects of drinking a little more than moderate.
We’d like to stress, though, that you should drink healthily and responsibly!
What does all this mean? It means there’s no shame of enjoying some beer after a tiring work day, or pairing some dinner with wine every so often, or going out for a drink with friends sometimes.
While drinking hazardously can lead to lifelong alcoholism, result in early deaths, or even increase the risks of cancer, drinking in moderation might just help you live a tiny bit longer.
Coupled with healthy habits, it’s worth a shot!
SEE ALSO:
Study Reveals That Intelligent People Drink More Than Others
