Congratulations gentlemen, all your efforts of living a healthier lifestyle are starting to pay off. According to a report from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the life expectancy for U.S. males grew by 4.6 years.

This increase has narrowed the gender gap from seven years back in 1989 down to five years, one month and six days. This means that today’s men will live to be an average age of 76.2, while a woman’s average lifespan (which rose by 2.7 years) will be 81.3.

Dr. Ali Mokdad, professor of global health at the IHME, part of the University of Washington, told MSNBC one of the reasons they may be catching up is because when it comes to cardiovascular disease, “men are tending to be more vigilant than women.”

When it comes to cardiovascular disease, it is the number one killer for women. It is often unrecognized and untreated in women, according to the American Heart Association. Mokdad told MSNBC, “In this country, we haven’t done a good  job of raising awareness for women about the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.”
Read Full Post >

When coffee is in the headlines, I tend to shield my eyes. I don’t want to hear why one of my dearest pleasures in life is potentially bad for me. And if you’re a coffee drinker, I imagine you feel the same.

Well, take heart fellow java lovers, because today’s news will inspire you to drink up! A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine is suggesting that coffee may be linked to a longer life.

The AARP joined researchers from the National Institute of Health to conduct a very long study regarding coffee consumption. The study lasted 13 years, to be exact. And during that time, researchers followed more than 400,000 healthy men and women between the ages of 50 and 71. In the time frame of 13 years, 13 percent of the participants died.

The research concluded that overall, coffee drinkers were less likely than their peers to die throughout the study. Also, the more coffee the individuals drank, the lower their mortality risk seemed to be. This is compared to those in the study who drank no coffee at all. The male coffee drinkers who drank more than six cups of coffee a day were 10 percent less likely to die during the study; while the females with the same consumption were 15 percent less likely to die during the study.
Read Full Post >

“We’ve seen research on every age group, from children to men and women in their 90s, and it’s clear that you can get stronger at any age,” says Lou Schuler, co-author of the new book The New Rules of Lifting for Life.

This intriguing new book draws out long known truths about muscle strength and longevity. Simply put, the book explains how the strongest people live longer. Additionally the book explains smart and healthy ways for anyone to get in the weight room and get an effective workout.

The authors call-out some common problems seen by many who frequent the gym. For instance, they dispel the myth that women don’t need to lift heavy weights.

“Middle-aged and older women think their bones will shatter if they pick up a weight that’s heavier than their purse. There’s nothing stranger than seeing a woman do a bench press or bent-over row with a dumbbell that’s smaller than her forearm,” Schuler says.

Schuler explains how another common error to be found in the weight room is that of overweight individuals.
Read Full Post >

Those interested in running now have another reason to lace up their running shoes. A new study from Denmark suggests that taking regular jogs can help extend your life.

The increase in lifespan showed through for both men and women. Women who jogged on a regular basis lived around 5.6 years longer than women who did not. And men who jogged on a regular basis lived about 6.2 years longer than men who did not.

For those who may be wondering, the term ‘regularly’ in this study constitutes jogging between only one and 2.5 hours per week, keeping a slow or average pace. Study researcher Peter Schnohr – chief cardiologist of the Copenhagen City Heart Study – made the statement, “We can say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity. The good news is that you don’t actually need to do that much to reap the benefits.”
Read Full Post >

We’ve heard for years that fiber is good for us in many different facets. It helps keep us regular, fills us up, and has even been shown to prevent cancer. Now, this miracle substance can lead to a longer life.

A study published on February 15, 2011 on the website of the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that higher levels of fiber appears to lower the risk of dying from respiratory and infectious diseases, as well as a reduced level of death from cancer in males. We have long known that fiber has a positive effect on heart health, so the results of the study were not surprising.

“The benefits of fiber are broader than what had been anticipated or previously studied,” says Frank Hu, M.D., who was the co-author of an editorial that accompanied the study, which was funded by the National Cancer Institute.
Read Full Post >