Longevity... genetics or lifestyle?

These are the 5 habits the Harvard study found had the biggest impact on increasing longevity

For years we’ve been told to “hope we inherited good genes.”

But what if the greatest predictor of your future health isn’t what happened at birth, it’s what you choose to do today?

One of the most influential longevity studies from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that our lifestyle has a far greater influence on how long—and how well—we live than most people realize.

While genetics certainly play a role, they account for only about 20–30% of our longevity.

The other 70–80%? That’s largely influenced by the choices we make every single day.

Even more remarkable, researchers found that people who adopted just five healthy lifestyle habits beginning around age 50 dramatically increased their life expectancy.

The five habits were surprisingly simple:

✅ Don’t smoke. ✅ Exercise regularly. ✅ Eat a healthy diet. ✅ Drink alcohol in moderation. ✅ Maintain a healthy body weight.

The results from the study were:

Women gained approximately 14 additional years of life. This is HUGE!

Men gained approximately 12 additional years.

HealthSpan11 digs deeper than the above 5 habits by including Sleep, Mindset and Social Connection as being key to increasing healthspan.

At 64, having survived lung cancer, undergone a lobectomy, experienced a cardiac ablation, and still choosing to run, cycle, golf, play tennis and pickleball and coach women toward healthier futures, I’ve learned something powerful:

We cannot control every diagnosis.

We cannot choose our genes.

But we can choose today’s habits.

And today’s habits become tomorrow’s health and increase our healthspan.

“We don’t inherit our future. We build it.”