We’ve recently read a really optimistic and inspiring article from the Harvard Gazette that we wanted to share with you! It turns out that if you’re trying to decrease your risk of a variety of diseases and stop cognitive decline in old age, the most helpful thing you can do for yourself is live a healthy lifestyle. Your genes determine which exercises and foods will best help you be healthy (so make sure to find out how your genes are contributing to your health), but the first step to improvement and a long happy life is to build good habits in your daily life!
Read more from the Harvard article below:
“If you’re looking for a miracle drug that cuts heart attack and diabetes risk by 80 and 90 percent, respectively, and also reduces the danger of cancer, stroke, and late-life cognitive decline, just close the medicine cabinet door.
Look in the mirror instead.
Despite recent headlines on potentially revolutionary cholesterol-lowering drugs, panelists in a recent forum at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said that the most dramatic health effects will continue to come from the lifestyle choices we make every day.
Eat a healthy diet, don’t pack on the pounds, get regular exercise, and don’t smoke. That recipe for the medical miracle is reliable enough that the panelists said it should be taught in grade school and through health-education campaigns. And research, they suggested, should be directed toward figuring out how to deliver that message in ways that get more people to pay attention.
“The evidence is quite strong that lifestyle factors will go a long way, but we don’t know how to promote a healthy lifestyle, how to get people to do it,” said JoAnn Manson, the Michael and Lee Bell Professor of Women’s Health atHarvard Medical School. “We need some creative solutions, we need more research to understand how to engage healthy lifestyles in the population.”
Frank Sacks, a professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard Chan School and Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, agreed with Manson, saying that a 75-year-old who adheres to recommended lifestyle measures — getting enough exercise, eating a healthy diet, and maintaining a normal body weight — will likely experience no cognitive decline for at least the next 10 years.
“We have a very optimistic message,” Sacks said, “we just have to deliver it.”
Good luck, everyone, and let us know in the comments if you have any questions or ideas for how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Keep in mind that you can’t know which healthy choices are best for your body and your life without testing your body itself! With Genetic Direction, you are finally able to access the information that your genes are trying to tell you and harness it to live a better life. Get started today!
