In a landmark report, Johns Hopkins researchers have taken the scientific validity of the power of healthy living to a whole new level. For this evaluation, the researchers carefully followed how four key lifestyle factors affected the risk of heart disease and overall death risk in over 6,200 racially diverse study subjects. All of the study subjects were free of heart disease at the beginning of the study and were followed over a period of 7.6 years. The four lifestyle factors monitored included: exercising regularly, eating a Mediterranean-style diet, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight.
The scientists found that adopting and adhering to all four lifestyle factors reduced the chances of developing heart disease AND the risk of death from ALL CAUSES by a whopping 80%! As individuals, we have enormous control over our own health destiny. This is just one of many other studies that I hope will compel you to take charge of your personal health because only YOU have the power, and life is for living!
(American Journal of Epidemiology, 2013; DOI:10.1093/aje/kws453)
