– Whether You Are 50, 60, or Even 75!
Is there something my Myrtle Beach friends and I can do to extend our expiration dates?
You could fill a library with the surveys and studies done on longevity and the books and reports written on life extension. And although I am suspicious of the conclusions that come from Big Pharma-funded studies, I’ve read enough about the subject over the years to trust the following data that Nigel provided. These are, in order of the number of extra years of life given, the top eight things anyone 50 years old or older can do to extend their life.
1. Quit Smoking
Estimated life extension:
* Quitting at ~50: ~6 years gained vs. continuing to smoke
* Quitting at ~60: ~3–4 years gained
* Lifelong nonsmoker vs. smoker: ~10 years difference
Evidence:
* British Doctors Study (50-year follow-up)
* Doll et al., BMJ 2004
* Jha et al., NEJM 2013
Note: Smoking remains the single largest modifiable cause of premature death in developed nations. Smoking cigars – at two a day – is only half as deadly as smoking cigarettes. At my age now, my cigar smoking will theoretically shorten my life span by 1.5 to 1.8 years.
What I do: I could theoretically give up my beloved Padron Anniversaries, but I’m not going to. My plan is to offset the 1.5 to 1.8 years shortfall by having better metrics in the other categories.
2. Exercise Your Heart and Lungs
Estimated life extension:
* Meeting minimum guidelines (150–300 min/week moderate activity): ~3–5 years vs. sedentary
* High fitness vs. moderate fitness: mortality risk reduction, another 45–70%
Evidence:
* Lee et al., Lancet 2012 (physical inactivity comparable to smoking in mortality impact)
* Blair et al., JAMA 1989; updated cohorts
* Kokkinos et al., Mayo Clinic Proc 2018 (dose-response across fitness levels)
Note: I am suspicious of cardiovascular metrics on longevity, because the great majority of them are observational (i.e., “How many times a week and for how many minutes do you…?”). Likewise, most of the studies that measure the intensity of cardiovascular exercise are subjective (i.e., “Would you describe your exercise as easy, moderate, or intense?”). Nevertheless, meta-reviews of such studies show a surprisingly consistent relationship between training time and training intensity and lifespan – to such a degree that most longevity experts consider cardiorespiratory fitness to be one of the strongest predictors of survival.
What I do: I don’t have the willpower (or the desire) to quit smoking cigars, but I find it relatively easy to train my heart and lungs six or seven days a week, always including regular bouts where I push my heart to the max. My current routine includes about a half-hour a day of easy exercise (getting my heart rate from 70 to about 120 beats per minute), another 30 to 45 minutes of moderate exercise (120 to 150 per minute), and 15 to 30 minutes of high-intensity training (150 +). Going for the maximum is not something that many doctors recommend for people in their 70s. But I’ve never seen a scientific study that backs that up, and I’ve seen several short-term studies that demonstrated a huge improvement in heart-lung health by other metrics, including maximum oxygen capacity, blood pressure, and other blood markers. As for easy exercising, I’m a big fan of walking, yoga, and Pilates. For medium exercising, I like interval running, interval-biking, circuit training with weights or body weights, and “slow” wrestling. And for high intensity training, it’s usually either three- to five-minute sprints on an Aerodyne bike or three to five minutes of grappling at competition speed (i.e., wrestling like my life depended on it!).
3. Maintain Healthy Blood Pressure & Cardiometabolic Health
Estimated life extension:
* Controlling hypertension: reduction of major CV events by ~25–40%
* Intensive BP control: reduction of all-cause mortality by ~27% in high-risk adults
Evidence:
* SPRINT Trial, NEJM 2015
* Blood Pressure Lowering Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration, Lancet 2021
Note: It’s no secret that hypertension is one of the strongest drivers of stroke, heart failure, and kidney disease.
What I do: I was put on a blood-pressure medication a few years ago when, for some reason I couldn’t determine, my blood pressure spiked. I was already taking statins at the time, and I was very much aware of the danger of taking both at the same time. However, after I dropped 40 pounds, I stopped taking both drugs and intensified my cardiovascular training to the level I describe above. Nowadays, my walking heart rate ranges from 50 to 60. More importantly, after pushing it to 160 or 170, it will drop by 50 beats per minute within 60 seconds and then drop to about 100 a minute later. My blood pressure was at 170 over 110 (if I remember correctly) when I began taking medication. Today, three months after I stopped, it is about 100 over 70 before I exercise and 120 over 80 afterwards. So, I’m good there.
4. Keep a Healthy Weight (Especially Low Visceral Fat)
Estimated life extension:
* Avoiding obesity: ~2–4 years vs. obese BMI ranges
* Central obesity as a strong predictor of mortality independent of BMI
Evidence:
* Global BMI Mortality Collaboration, Lancet 2016
* Emerging waist-to-height and visceral fat data (multiple meta-analyses)
Note: According to the studies, the combination of low muscle plus high abdominal fat carries particularly high risk.
What I do (have done): Thanks to weekly semaglutide injections (starting at 0.25 and topping off at 0.75), I lost 40 pounds (226 to 186) in the first four months of 2025. And although I believe the time and intensity of my exercise routine plays a big role in my current good health, with all my blood metrics in the “optimal” range, I suspect that shedding all that extra weight was an even larger factor in achieving those numbers.
5. Preserve Muscle Mass
Estimated life extension:
* 10–20% reduction in all-cause mortality independent of aerobic exercise
* Higher grip strength as a strong predictor of longer survival
Evidence:
* García-Hermoso et al., Br J Sports Med 2022 meta-analysis
* Leong et al., Lancet 2015 (grip strength as mortality predictor)
Note: This is a factor that surprises almost everyone I know that keeps up on health and fitness studies, and it was surprising to me when I first began reading about muscular strength as a factor of longevity. It made sense to me that getting my heart and lungs in good shape would extend life, but strength? I should have taken a look at the studies that discovered this correlation, and apologize for not having done it. I suspect it may be that having strong leg, lower back, and abdominal muscles means less chance of falling down and ending up horizontal, which, according to an emergency surgery doctor friend of mine, is “how old people die.”
What I do: I exercise my core muscles (legs, lower back, and abs) six days a week and often twice a day. I am stronger (and more flexible) than I was when I was 40 pounds heavier, which is not as easy as it may sound. I train my muscles for both strength and endurance. I hope to continue to get stronger. What I do know is that I wake up at least three days a week with my muscles aching. I tell myself that’s a good thing.
6. Get Sufficient Quality Sleep
Estimated life extension:
* 7–8 hours of sleep nightly associated with lowest mortality
* Chronic short sleep (<5–6 hours) linked to ~10–20% higher mortality
Evidence:
* Cappuccio et al., Sleep 2010 meta-analysis
* UK Biobank sleep regularity analyses (recent cohort data)
Note: Everyone knows that getting a “good night’s sleep” is important, but not everyone knows that, in study after study, it’s been shown to be a major factor in both physical and mental health – and new studies are making the connection to longevity. What virtually all sleep scientists agree on is that for 90+% of the population, the optimum amount of sleep needed per night is seven to nine hours. Getting less than that – or more than that – over even as little as a few days, has a negative impact on health.
What I do: Since I’ve been wearing an Oura ring, I’ve been shocked by how much less sleep – useful sleep – I have been getting over the years. I’ve always tried to get seven hours. But my magic ring tells me I’m getting more like five. I’m trying to rectify this by getting to bed earlier and giving myself permission to take naps during the day.
7. Maintain Strong Social Relationships
Estimated life extension:
* Good social integration associated with ~50% greater survival odds
* Effect size comparable to quitting smoking (in magnitude of risk reduction)
Evidence:
* Holt-Lunstad et al., PLoS Medicine 2010 meta-analysis
* Follow-up analyses, Perspectives on Psychological Science 2015
Note: This is a fact that’s been getting a lot of press lately. Isolation predicts mortality independent of health behaviors.
What I do. This is a longevity factor I don’t have to worry about. At last count, I had about 1,000 friends. And every week, several new people show up at my Cigar Club whom I often befriend. I not only have gobs of friends, I have friends of every possible kind. Childhood friends with whom I can share old stories. Young entrepreneurs that read my books and want to talk about business with me. Friends from Rancho Santana. My book club friends. Art friends. Botanical garden friends. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu friends. And that’s to say nothing of an extensive, extended family that is only getting bigger.
8. Have a Purpose
Estimated life extension:
* High purpose in life associated with ~15–20% lower mortality risk
Evidence:
* Alimujiang et al., JAMA Network Open 2019
* Hill & Turiano, Psychological Science 2014
Note: This, too, is a metric that is getting a ton of press – and for good reason: To live a long life, you need a brain that wants to continue living. And the best way to want to keep living is to want to finish a project (or dozens of projects!) before you die.
What I do. This is another longevity factor I don’t have to worry about. I’ve mentioned the 31 books I want to finish writing, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. I’ve got three non-profits, my ongoing relationship with a half-dozen businesses, and a brand-new business that, for some inexplicable reason, I decided to launch last month.
