Alcohol reduction

This prospective cohort study followed 123,219 US nurses and health professionals for up to 34 years to examine whether five modifiable lifestyle factors—never smoking, healthy weight, regular physical activity, moderate alcohol use, and high-quality diet—were associated with mortality and life expectancy. Adults who maintained all five low-risk factors had substantially lower mortality rates (74% lower all-cause mortality hazard ratio) and lived an average of 12–14 years longer beyond age 50 compared to those with none of these factors. The study combined follow-up data with national health surveys and mortality databases to project life expectancies for the US population.

This observational study of 410 individuals with schizophrenia spectrum or affective disorders examined whether lifestyle factors were associated with telomere length, a marker of cellular ageing. Participants reporting healthy lifestyles had significantly longer telomeres than those reporting unhealthy lifestyles (Cohen's d = 0.58, p = 0.004), with an apparent dose-response relationship between increasing unhealthy behaviours and shorter telomeres (p = 0.02). The observed difference corresponded to approximately 6 years of biological age.