Want to Live Longer?

By Bogdan Sonjachnyj @ Shutterstock.com

Want to live longer? Escape the city. In The Washington Post, Allyson Chiu explains how living near green spaces could add years to your life. She writes:

Want to live longer? Living near more green spaces could be part of the answer.

A study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances suggests that if you have long-term exposure to more greenery where you live, on average you may be adding 2.5 years to your life.

The paper adds to existing knowledge of the health benefits of living around greenery by shedding more light on how nature can affect our bodies. The researchers looked at long-term exposure to surrounding green spaces and how that affected biological aging among a group of more than 900 people in four U.S. cities.

“Our study shows that being near green space caused some biological or molecular changes that can be detected in our blood,” said Lifang Hou, a preventive medicine professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the study’s principal investigator.

How nature can ‘get under our skin’

To explore the association between long-term exposure to greenery and aging, the researchers compared age-related biological changes in the study’s participants over a 20-year period against data on green spaces near where those people live. Using blood DNA, they were able to measure biological age at a molecular level by analyzing small changes in how genes related to the aging process work, Hou said.

If a person’s biological age, which can be sped up or slowed down depending on how they live, is older than their chronological age, they may be at higher risk for developing age-related health conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease or Alzheimer’s, she said.

Biological age “really depends on what we do daily,” including what we eat and how physically active we are, Hou said. The study, however, emphasizes that it’s not only about what each person individually does for their own health, but also their neighborhoods and communities, she said.

Action Line: Escape the city. Find your new life in Your Survival Guy’s 2023 Super States. Become a Survivor. Start by clicking here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.

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