Eat like a Mediterranean.
Some of the best defenses against the normal cognitive decline that comes with age may be on our plates. A growing body of scientific evidence links a Mediterranean diet, based around vegetables, fruit, nuts, fish, and olive oil, with a strong, healthy body and a sharp mind.

Studies link the diet with a reduced risk of breast cancer and heart disease, and also suggest that the eating plan may be tied to higher cognitive performance and a potentially lower risk of dementia.

Maintain friendships and build new ones.
Loneliness can be deadly - some research suggests it poses a greater threat to public health than obesity. Fostering friendship is therefore key to aging well and boosting happiness, several recent studies have suggested.

One of them, published in 2008 in the British Medical Journal, found that people who had regular contact with 10 or more other people were significantly happier than those who did not, and that people with fewer friends were less happy overall.

Friends who are not your family may be especially important.

In a pair of studies involving nearly 280,000 people, psychologists at Michigan State University found that in older people, friendships were a stronger predictor of both health and happiness than relationships with family members.

"Keeping a few really good friends around can make a world of difference for our health and well-being," Chopik said in a statement. "So it's smart to invest in the friendships that make you happiest."

Do cardio exercise three times a week.
Any kind of movement is beneficial, but the type that will have the most benefits for your body and brain as you age is aerobic exercise, or cardio.

Studies suggest that running, walking, and swimming helps to lift the mood, clear the mind, and may even help protect from some of the cognitive decline that occurs with age. Cardio also strengthens the heart and lungs and helps tone up muscles - but make sure you're committing to it for at least 45 minutes at a time, at least three days a week.

Do strength training twice a week.
On the days when you're not running or swimming, add some strength training exercises to your schedule.

Studies suggest that the best overall health results - mental and physical - for people over 50 come from a combination of aerobic workouts and resistance training (strengthening work like lifting weights or doing squats). That type of workout plan could be anything from high-intensity interval training, like the seven-minute workout, to dynamic-flow yoga, which intersperses strength-building poses with heart-pumping dance-like moves.

Try intermittent fasting or caloric restriction.
As far as adding years to your life goes, one of the most promising diets involve caloric restriction - quite simply limiting the number of calories you eat each day.

Although eating less sounds difficult, several recent studies suggest that one practical way to achieve this is through a plan known as intermittent fasting. The diet essentially involves confining your eating to a specific window, such as from noon to 8 p.m., and abstaining from food or drink (aside from water or black coffee) outside of that window.

Still, most of the research on the benefits of caloric restriction has been done in animals, and we don't yet know if those benefits carry over into people.


Be more conscientious.
Do you often think about the needs of others? Are you thorough and efficient in your approach to tasks?

A 75-year study followed 300 engaged couples who enrolled during their mid-20s, and found that a handful of personality traits - conscientiousness being the most salient - were tied to a long life.

It's impossible to say whether innately possessing these traits makes you inclined to live longer, or if there's something about developing them at any age that could be tied to longevity, but this isn't the only study to link conscientiousness with longevity.

Another study, this time of Californians, found that people who were seen as conscientious by friends and family both when they were children and when they were adults lived longer than their peers who were not seen as possessing that trait during either phase of their lives.

Cut back on alcohol.
Cancer is one of the biggest killers of Americans - especially older Americans. Starting around age 55, our risk of cancer begins to tick up with each passing year.

So it's not surprising that after a spate of research found links between alcohol and two types of cancer, the American Society of Clinical Oncology issued an unprecedented warning to Americans to cut back on drinking. The group referenced a 2016 study that tied drinking even one glass of wine or beer per day to an increased risk of developing pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer.

"We're not saying no one should ever drink at all - we're just saying if you do drink, even trying to keep it down to less than one drink a day would be a smart choice," Alice Bender, a registered dietitian, told Business Insider in May.


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