CDC Features - Four Specific Health Behaviors Contribute to a Longer Life

Four Specific Health Behaviors Contribute to a Longer Life

A new study examines the impact of four health behaviors on chronic disease. Practicing healthier behaviors contributes to a longer and healthier life.

Four health risk behaviors—lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption—are responsible for much of the illness and death related to chronic diseases. Seven out of 10 deaths among Americans each year are from chronic diseases.¹ Heart disease, cancer, and stroke account for more than 50% of all deaths each year.¹

A new CDC report finds that people can live longer if they practice one or more healthy lifestyle behaviors— not smoking, eating a healthy diet, getting regular physical activity, and limiting alcohol consumption.² Not smoking provides the most protection from dying early from all causes.

People who engaged in all four healthy behaviors were 66 percent less likely to die early from cancer, 65 percent less likely to die early from cardiovascular disease, and 57 percent less likely to die early from other causes compared to people who did not engage in any of the healthy behaviors.²

What You Can Do to Live a Healthier and Longer Life

Avoid Excessive Alcohol Use:

• Drink alcohol in moderation (men should have no more than two drinks per day; and women no more than one drink per day).

Avoid Tobacco:

• If you do not smoke, don't start.
• If you currently smoke, and want to quit, call 1-800-Quit-Now, a free telephone support service that can help you to stop smoking or using tobacco.

Improve Nutrition:

• Eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, and seafood.
• Eat fewer foods with sodium (salt), saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, added sugars, and refined grains.

Engage in Physical Activity:

• Participate in moderate intensity physical activity 5 or more days per week (150 minutes), such as brisk walking, or
• Practice vigorous physical activity 3 or more days per week (75 minutes) such as jogging or race walking.

Reference

1. Kung HC, Hoyert DL, Xu JQ, Murphy SL. Deaths: final data for 2005. National Vital Statistics Reports 2008;56(10).
2. Ford ES, Zhao G, Tsai J, Li C. Low-risk lifestyle behaviors and all-cause mortality: Findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III Mortality Study. American Journal of Public Health., published online ahead of print August 18, 2011.

More Information

• Alcohol and Public Health
• Smoking & Tobacco Use
• Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity
• Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention
• Winnable Battles

CDC works 24/7 saving lives, protecting people from health threats, and saving money to have a more secure nation. A US federal agency, CDC helps make the healthy choice the easy choice by putting science and prevention into action. CDC works to help people live longer, healthier and more productive lives.

CDC Features - Four Specific Health Behaviors Contribute to a Longer Life: - Enviado mediante la barra Google

Research Article

Low-Risk Lifestyle Behaviors and All-Cause Mortality: Findings From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III Mortality Study

Earl S. Ford, MD, MPH¹, Guixiang Zhao, MD, PhD², James Tsai, MD, MPH³ and Chaoyang Li, MD, PhD⁴

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
² Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
³ CDC
⁴ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Correspondence: eford@cdc.gov

Objectives. We examined the relationship between 4 low-risk behaviors-never smoked, healthy diet, adequate physical activity, and moderate alcohol consumption-and mortality in a representative sample of people in the United States.

Methods. We used data from 16958 participants aged 17 years and older in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III Mortality Study from 1988 to 2006.

Results. The number of low-risk behaviors was inversely related to the risk for mortality. Compared with participants who had no low-risk behaviors, those who had all 4 experienced reduced all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR]=0.37; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.28, 0.49), mortality from malignant neoplasms (AHR=0.34; 95% CI=0.20, 0.56), major cardiovascular disease (AHR=0.35; 95% CI=0.24, 0.50), and other causes (AHR=0.43; 95% CI=0.25, 0.74). The rate advancement periods, representing the equivalent risk from a certain number of years of chronological age, for participants who had all 4 high-risk behaviors compared with those who had none were 11.1 years for all-cause mortality, 14.4 years for malignant neoplasms, 9.9 years for major cardiovascular disease, and 10.6 years for other causes.

Conclusions. Low-risk lifestyle factors exert a powerful and beneficial effect on mortality. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print August 18, 2011:e1-e8. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2011.300167)

Practical Applications

HRQOL is more likely than other health outcomes to reflect broad consequences of illness, disease or injury, and the consequences of social and environmental influences on health. In many cultures, a quality-of-life focus could offer a unifying theme for diverse health and social service programs as well as economic programs which aim to improve population well-being. Such a focus can also help to ensure that mental health issues that are often ignored or inadequately considered in health status and productivity measures will be addressed. Asking about recent physical and mental health may capture a large proportion of the concerns people have about the quality of their life as it relates to their health. This is a simple but powerful way of broadening the scope of public health to include psychosocial aspects that are now recognized as important to the health and productivity of the population.

How are the Healthy Days measures useful at the state and local levels?

Since 1993, CDC, states, and others have demonstrated the usefulness of HRQOL measures in identifying vulnerable population subgroups and in community health assessments (e.g., the federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Community Health Status Indicators Project; the University of Wisconsin’s Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health Project). Adding HRQOL indicators in community health assessment studies can offer health agencies outcomes that are meaningful to the broad community, identify population disparities in HRQOL, and help prioritize subgroups with unmet needs to improve community quality of life. Because the actions of many groups in a community may affect HRQOL, successful interventions and healthy public policies require active partnerships with multiple community members including the business community, departments of transportation, education, and public safety, health care communities and non-profit groups.

State and Community Health Profiles/Reports

The Institute of Medicine provides a guide, Improving Health in the Community that describes the use of community indicators and performance monitoring to improve community health. The guide also provides tools to help communities develop their own performance indicators. CDC's Healthy Days Measures are included among the IOM's suggested community performance indicators.

In 2008, the Institute of Medicine provided guidance to the State of the USA (SUSA) on 20 key health indicators to be used to assess health by geography and key demographic groups in the US. Taken together, the selected indicators reflect the overall health of the nation and the efficiency and efficacy of U.S. health systems. The twenty measures include the CDC Healthy Days measure.

Below are links to several state and county health departments, and several private and nonprofit organizations that have used CDC's Healthy Days Measures as community health status indicators.

• Report Cards
• State Reports
• Local Reports