According to a new study, if you are tall, thin, and female, you are much more likely to reach the ripe old age of 90 than anyone else.
The new study, conducted by Lloyd Brandts from the department of epidemiology at Maastricht University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, indicates that your body size and gender are a determining factor in your longevity. In addition, as News Max points out, the study has shown that physical activity can also help determine a person’s lifespan.
“The findings indicate that both body size and physical activity are related to lifespan, but that these associations seem to differ between men and women,” said Lloyd Brandts, the study’s lead researcher.
Brandts also cautioned that while the study has shown some correlation between body size, gender, and exercise regarding longevity, the observational study cannot definitively prove it.
However, the study did indicate an increased chance of reaching the age of 90 for women who exercised up to 60 minutes per day. But, for those that think exercising more will further increase longevity, the study did not show an increase in longevity who those who exercised in excess of 60 minutes per day.
As Fox 5 San Diego points out, the research began in 1986 when researchers studied “7,000 Norwegian men and women between age 55 and 69 about their height, current weight, and weight at age 20.” These participants were also asked about their physical activity. As a result of this, three groups were determined: those who exercised for less than 30 minutes a day, those that exercised for 30-60 minutes each day, and those that partook in physical activity for 60 minutes or more per day.
These groups were then studied over the course of time until they either died or reached the age of 90. It was discovered that of the 7,807 participants, “433 men and 994 women lived to that age.”
It was also discovered that women 5-feet 9-inches were 31 percent more likely to live to 90-years of age than women who were less than 5-feet 3-inches tall.
In addition to these findings, it was discovered that body size appeared to be more of a determining factor in longevity for women and not so much for men.
However, exercise level was considered more of a determining factor for men regarding longevity. Men who were physically active for 90 minutes a day or more were 39 percent more likely to live longer than men who exercised for less than 30 minutes. And, unlike women who the research found no added advantage for exercising over 60 minutes a day, for men it was discovered that for each additional 30 minutes a day that men were active, they were 5 percent more likely to reach th3 90 years of age.
The study also factored in additional details that could affect the outcome of the study. These factors included “current or past smoking and level of alcohol use.”
Results of the study were published on Monday in the BMJ medical journal.
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