by D. Trump

Created on: October 23, 2010   Last Updated: December 03, 2010

Most people already know the most common ways to increase life expectancy.  These are, of course, quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy diet, exercising, and avoiding excess alcohol intake.  If you are like most people, you get frustrated with reading these over and over again, and never dig deeper to find some of the less common ways to increase your life expectancy.  Today, you have found a different way to increase your life expectancy.  This article will not even discuss these topics, but rather focus more on the less obvious changes that you can make to help yourself live longer.

One of the most obvious ways to increase life expectancy is to practice good sleep hygiene techniques.  Many people are aware that getting enough sleep is helpful for reducing your chances of developing potentially fatal diseases, but many do not consider that the quality of the sleep affects this as well.  If you practice techniques that help you get a better quality of sleep, you will find that you will benefit far more from the time that you devote to this essential part of life.  Take a little time to make sure that you have a good bedtime ritual, and avoid exercise, alcohol, and anything exciting before bed.  These simple things will help to increase the positive benefits that you gain from sleeping, most notable of which is increased life expectancy.

The next thing that you can do to help yourself live longer is arguably the most interesting and amazing; Taking a vitamin D supplement.  A recent study published in Men's Health Magazine found that people who take a vitamin D supplement are less likely to die from any cause.  That is a pretty amazing thing to know.  It is even said to help prevent some types of cancers and help increase happiness.  This is likely due to the fact that most Western cities just do not get as much sun as the body needs to thrive. There is much debate over what dose is most effective, but generally speaking, 1000 ui's is accepted to be most beneficial dose at this point.  When choosing a supplement, it is almost always better to choose a natural source over a synthetic source.

The final thing that this article will touch on is stress reduction. Stress is a reality in our world, and is arguably the biggest cause of disease and premature death.  If you reduce your stress, you will certainly live longer than if you do nothing about it.  Stress is often considered to be a bad thing, and can certainly reduce life expectancy.  Having said that, you do not want to eliminate stress completely.  Limited amounts of stress can help motivate you and push you towards greater achievement.  If you make minimal changes in this area, you will likely see great results.  Simple things like exercise and meditation are often enough to get stress to the point where it is far more manageable.

This article has outlined a few of the less obvious things that you can do to increase your life expectancy, the rest is up to you. Whether you agree with them or not, these are simple and easy things that you can do that have a chance at increasing your life expectancy.  Keep in mind that there is no magic solution that will make you live forever. You probably should consider doing the common sense things as well, as they are not plastered all over books and the Internet for no reason.  With a little effort, you can live longer and even help to  increase the quality of your life without wasting the extra time that you gain.

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