Most people associate coffee and alcohol with an unhealthy lifestyle. But it turns out that in the right doses, caffeine and alcohol could be the keys to living to the ripe old age of 90.
One thing the world doesn’t need is another study that tells us that eggs, cheese, turkey, spinach or whatever is now supposedly bad for a healthy lifestyle.
Luckily, University of California, Irvine’s latest study does the exact opposite. It takes things that most people assume to be bad for us and says that they may actually be wonder drugs!
It turns out that people no longer have to worry that every cup of coffee, every pint of beer and every glass of wine will take time off of their lives.
That’s because its key finding was that “People who drank moderate amounts of alcohol or coffee lived longer than those who abstained.”
So, liquor lovers and espresso enthusiasts, rejoice. When you toast to your health, you’re not just saying that, but doing something about it at the same time!
Of course, there is a catch.
In the above quotation from the study, the active word is “moderate.” That means that binging on alcoholic or caffeinated beverages is still definitely bad for you.
So, by all means, drink coffee and alcohol without panicking. Just don’t do it to excess!
And for people who like to enjoy slightly more relaxed lifestyles, there’s more good news.
Being overweight in your 70s is actually good for you.
The study found that “People who were overweight in their 70s lived longer than normal or underweight people did.”
So when you hit retirement age, don’t worry quite so much about maintaining the slimmest possible body that you can muster. The key to making it to 90+ is to be a bit pudgy!
And for those who doubt the findings of the study, just take into account how extensive it was.
The study started in 2003 and tracked the health habits of over 1,600 people.
The participants in the study were then visited every six months and assessed on their neurological health. The assessors also obtained dietary information, medical history and more.
The assessors came in with the direct aim of answering what could be making people live to the age of 90 and beyond.
And time and time again, the participants in the study who drank moderate amounts of alcohol and coffee managed to make it into their 90s.
The results of the study are pretty useful. Apart from telling people to drink coffee and alcohol, they will be used to help people who reach the age of 90 or over maintain their health and independence.
90+ is the fastest growing age group in America. But up until now, a major study of people at this age has never been conducted.
University of California, Irvine has redressed that, meaning that as humans live longer, doctors will be able to take better care of them in the future.
It could be that because of this research, many people start to live to 100+.
There have been a few studies like this published before, but none were as extensive as this one. For instance, in 2017, International Psychogeriatrics studied 29 people aged between 90 to 101.
That study discovered that most of these people maintained their health by staying active through working at home, even in their advanced ages.
Clearly, the University of California, Irvine study is significantly more robust!
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