If you want to live into your 90s, booze actually
beats exercise, according to a long-term study. The research,
led by University of California (no surprise) neurologist
Claudia Kawas, tracked 1,700 nonagenarians enrolled in the 90+
Study that began in 2003 to explore impacts of daily habits on
longevity.
Researchers discovered
that subjects who drank about two glasses of beer or wine a day
were 18% less likely to experience a premature death. Meanwhile,
participants who exercised 15 to 45 minutes a day, cut the same
risk by 11%.
“I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that
modest drinking improves longevity,” Kawas stated at the
American Association for the Advancement of Science annual
conference in Austin, Texas.
Other factors were found to boost longevity, including weight.
Participants who were slightly overweight, but not obese, cut
their odds of an early death by 3%. “It’s not bad to be skinny
when you are young, but it is very bad to be skinny when you’re
old,” Kawas noted in her address.
Also, subjects who kept
busy with a daily hobby two hours a day were 21% less likely to
die early, while those who drank two cups of coffee a day cut
that risk by 10%.