Would you live longer if you didn't smoke or drink for the rest of your life? A survey tells you the answer
Nowadays, smoking and drinking are becoming more and more common. Many young people often use smoking and drinking to relieve themselves because of excessive stress. Moreover, tobacco and alcohol have become a means of communication for many people to engage in business entertainment.
However, it is well known that smoking and drinking are harmful to health. Most people think that smoking and drinking for a long time will also be more harmful to the body, and it is easy to increase the risk of cancer.
At this time, someone asked, is it possible that if a person does not smoke or drink for a lifetime, he will live longer and longer? Is this statement true? Is there any scientific evidence?
Would you live longer if you didn't smoke or drink for the rest of your life? A survey tells you the answer
Smoking and drinking are harmful to health, as we all know, and many practices of smoking and prohibiting alcohol have also been implemented. There are not a few people who smoke and drink in this life. Smoking and drinking for a long time is indeed very harmful to the body, so some people have proposed, if you don't smoke or drink for a lifetime, will you live longer?
For this question, researchers from the Zhejiang Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine spent four years going to the homes of 255 centenarians to conduct face-to-face questionnaires. The content of the questionnaire involves whether there is a habit of smoking and drinking, or the quality of sleep, living conditions and health care measures.
The survey report shows that 68% of centenarians have a balanced diet, 47% do not eat health supplements, 79% exercise habits such as walking, 55% socialize peacefully, and 38% sleep. For more than 9 hours, in terms of tobacco and alcohol, 83% of the elderly do not smoke, and 73% of the elderly do not drink.
It can be seen that if you want to develop a longevity physique, it is better to quit drinking first.
Speaking of which, some people have raised such a question. Since not smoking and drinking are good for health, but some people in life can still have a long-lived physique even if they smoke and drink? Is that just a lucky relationship?
Why do some people smoke and drink and still live longer?
The harm caused by tobacco and alcohol to the body is undeniable, but some people still live long despite smoking and drinking. What is the reason?
First of all, we must understand such a reason, that is, an important factor in longevity, which is a comprehensive result. It is not that you can live a long life without smoking or drinking. For example, daily behavior habits and diet are very important.
If you say that you don't smoke or drink, it's a bad living habit. For example, being angry or staying up late will cause harm to your health. Of course, not all people who smoke and drink will live a long life. In fact, such people are not common. A typical example of a longevity constitution is "survivor bias".
Smoking and drinking alcohol for a long time can cause damage to organs such as the lungs and liver. The burning process of cigarettes will release a lot of harmful gases, and alcohol contains certain carcinogens, which will affect health and increase the risk of cancer.
But each person's constitution is different, and some people may be born with the ability to eliminate the damage of tobacco and alcohol, mainly because the genes in their body can offset part of the damage.
A study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles and other institutions, published in the Journal of Gerontology, collected more than 90 long-term smokers with a life expectancy of over 80 and 730 with a life expectancy of less than 70. of long-term smokers for comparison.
After genetic analysis, it was found that people who smoked for a long time had 215 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Unlike ordinary people, these single nucleotide polymorphisms are more likely to allow people to obtain repair effects. Correspondingly, the life expectancy is prolonged, the self-resistance and repair ability are high, and the harm of tobacco and alcohol to the body is avoided.
Therefore, this group of people may be the survivors, but it does not mean that smoking and drinking are harmless to the body. For a long time, the harmful substances in tobacco and alcohol entering the body will still increase the risk of disease or even cancer, causing damage to the body. .