5 lifestyle changes that might help you live longer and slow down ageing
Study reflects how the society is fascinated with health, fitness, and longevity, as this obsession has spawned a multi-million-pound industry centred around pushing the latest cutting-edge science, lifestyle modifications, and products that claim to prevent ageing and live as long as possible.
In a contribution to The Conversation, researchers Henry Chung, who is a lecturer at the School of Sport, Rehabilitation, and Exercise Sciences, University of Essex, and Charlotte Gowers, a lecturer of psychology, sport, and sensory science at Anglia Ruskin University, detail changes that slow down ageing.
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1. Run away from ageing—literally
“Being more physically active and regularly exercising throughout life reduces the risk of death from all causes, directly increasing longevity. It’s also never too late to get started,” they explained.
“One study found that sedentary people who adopted an eight-week exercise program (60-minute workouts done three times a week) reversed their biological age by around two years. A mixture of strength and endurance exercises done three to four times a week (with sessions as short as 23 minutes) is also shown to significantly reduce ageing,” they added.
According to the duo, exercise influences something called DNA methylation, a process that controls whether certain genes are “on” or “off.” As we age, it’s natural that our genes start switching off—this is why we get wrinkles and grey hair.
But exercise helps to slow these processes down, meaning the genes that help do important functions in the body continue doing their job for longer.
2. You are what you eat
On the other hand, making healthier food choices directly reduces biological age. This effect is even greater in those with chronic disease and obesity.
A study that looked at nearly 2,700 women found that adopting healthier eating patterns for 6-12 months was a key factor in staying younger for longer. This diet was also shown to slow ageing by an average of 2.4 years.
Healthier food choices included eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, fish, lean proteins, and healthy fats (such as oil) and reducing intake of red meat, saturated fat, added sugars, and sodium.
A well-balanced diet provides antioxidants, vitamins, and anti-inflammatory compounds that help cells repair damage and reduce stress on our DNA. These nutrients also influence DNA methylation.
3. Improve sleep habits
The research further identified that sleep is one of the strongest predictors of healthy ageing because it affects nearly every bodily system. Good quality sleep allows the body to repair DNA, restore hormonal balance, reduce inflammation, and clear cellular waste—helping the immune, metabolic, and nervous systems stay youthful and resilient.
One review showed that sleep quality is directly associated with how fast we age. People who sleep less than five hours per night have a significantly increased risk of age-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and dementia.
4. Avoid unhealthy vices
Similarly, the study unveiled how habits such as vaping, smoking, and drinking alcohol are the strongest and most consistent accelerators of aging.
“Smoking, for instance, is shown to rapidly age the lungs by up to 4.3 years and the airway cells by nearly five years. A study looking at 8,046 adults aged 30–79 years old found that consuming any amount of alcohol was associated with accelerated biological ageing. The more alcohol consumed, the more age is accelerated,” they noted.
These habits speed up biological aging because they directly damage DNA, increase inflammation, and overload cells with stress. This causes the body and organs to work harder, aging them quicker.
5. Master your mind
Stress management is key. Research shows that being able to regulate emotions and manage stress levels predicts age acceleration. Another study found that working more than 40 hours a week on average increased biological age by two years, probably due to the stress.
Research indicates that stress can directly accelerate biological age due to the way it affects hormonal response, damages DNA, and reduces immunity.
Stress can also indirectly affect other factors that may accelerate ageing, such as diet, sleep, and whether we drink or smoke. This is why having a set of positive coping mechanisms to manage stress is so important.
A growing body of research is also showing that factors such as loneliness, exposure to extreme heat and cold, air pollution, and our environment (such as living in deprived areas) can all also affect how we age.
