A recent study discovered the keys to longevity — and they are different for men and women. What do you need to do to live up to 90?

Longevity study

Life expectancy has been growing rapidly during the 20th century, but in recent years the numbers started to plateau or decline in developed countries, for the first time in decades.

Specialists blame unhealthy diets of fast food and cola that cause obesity, as well as the inactive lifestyle computers and TV’s brought about.

A group of scientists analysed data of the longitude study of older people with the view to determine factors that helped them live longer. The authors Lloyd Brandts and Piet van den Brand decided to run analysis separately for males and females, as scientists wanted to see if some factors were gender-specific.

Data of 7807 participants aged 68-70 (3646 males and 4161 females) were collected in 1986 and the people were followed up to see their progress as the time went by.

People reported their current weight and how much their body mass was when they were 20, height, types of physical activity they were involved in on daily basis, including home chores, work, leisure, and exercise. Walking a dog, gardening, home improvements projects, cycling to work — all these things were taken in consideration when calculating the average time spent on daily physical activities.

16.7% of males (433 people) and 34.4% of females (944 people) achieved the age of 90.

Women’s longevity

Women who reached the age of 90 were on average taller and thinner at the time when the study started. They gained less weight since they were 20.

Shorter and heavier women had a higher chance do die before the age of 90.

In fact, females who were taller than 175 cm (5’9″) were 31% more likely to live up to 90, as compared to females shorter than 160 cm (5’3″).

But, of course, one cannot change her height. However, the weight was an important indicator for females. Slim ladies live longer.

Regarding physical activity, for ladies the ideal amount of daily exercise is about 60 minutes per day.

Women, who were active for 30-60 minutes a day had 21% higher chances to reach the age of 90, as compared to the ones doing less than 30 minutes of activity per day.

Keys to longevity differ by sex, but both men and women benefit greatly from exercise.

Men’s longevity

For men, there were no connection between their height and weight and longevity. However, physical activity was an extremely important factor to live up to 90 for males.

Men who were exercising over 90 minutes a day (including walking, cycling, or DIY projects), were 39% more likely to live into their nineties as compared to the group that were active less than 30 minutes daily.

Men increased their chances to celebrate the 90th birthday by 5% for every extra 30 minutes of activity per day.

For males, being more physically active, is associated with a higher chance to live a long life — 90 minutes per day or longer is your ideal amount of exercise.

The study didn’t find any links between men’s body size and height with the longevity factor. Males can be big and healthy, and survive till 90, apparently.

BMI (body mass index) is vital for females but not for males.

However, smoking showed a very high probability of an early death, as well as the history of previous illnesses.

In 2014 a study discovered that shorter men live longer in Japan. They also were found to have lower chances of developing cancer.

Exercise is the key to living longer

Once again, the study showed that exercise is the “magic pill” that assists people to live longer and healthier lives.

“This study indicates that body size and physical activity are related to the likelihood of reaching 90 years of age and that these associations differ by sex,” the researchers concluded.

Previous studies based on different data showed a similar dynamics, although it wasn’t analysed separately by gender. This new research reveals that exercising is even more important for men than for women, while ladies are better to watch their waste size.

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