Four good habits to keep you away from diabetes and heart disease

Don't smoke, go for a walk, say no to junk food, and watch your BMI. These suggestions may seem old-fashioned, but did you know that if you can really stick to and maintain these four habits, you can reduce your risk of chronic diseases by nearly 4%.
A study published in Archives of Internal Medicine tracked the height and weight (calculating BMI body mass index), medical history, exercise and eating habits of 23513 German adults aged 35 to 65 for 8 years to investigate whether the subjects followed healthy lifestyle habits, including:

●Don’t smoke

●At least 3.5 hours of exercise per week

BMI <30

● Eat more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, and limit meat intake

The results showed that most of the subjects met at least one healthy habit, and only about 9% failed at all; after correcting for relevant risk factors, it was found that people who could maintain four habits for a long time could reduce their overall risk of chronic diseases by 4%.

The individual disease risks are:

● Reduce the risk of developing type 93 diabetes by XNUMX%

● Reduce the risk of heart attack by 81%

● Reduce the risk of stroke by 50%

● Reduce the risk of cancer by 36%. (Compiled by Zhang Xiaohui)

Uncontrolled blood pressure can lead to dementia

The latest research shows that maintaining normal blood pressure is more thanProtect the heart,moreGood for your brain.

Scientists have discovered that high blood pressure (systolic blood pressure ≧140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure ≧90 mmHg) can cause white matter damage in the brain, leading to Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia in the future.

White matter is one of the elements of the central nervous system. It is composed of nerve axons covered by myelin. White matter is like the telephone network of the brain, connecting neurons in different brain regions and enabling brain cells to communicate with each other.

Once blood pressure rises, the pressure will damage the tiny blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrients to the white matter, further causing white matter damage, interrupting communication between brain cells, and causing dementia problems.

Two recent studies have confirmed that people with high blood pressure are more susceptible to dementia. The study published in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of 1403 women over the age of 65. After eight years of follow-up, it was found that people with high blood pressure had more white matter damage in their brains, and the higher the blood pressure, the greater the degree of white matter damage.

A study just published in the journal Stroke by Johns Hopkins University in the United States also obtained similar results. It tracked 983 middle-aged people for 15 years and found that the longer the abnormal blood pressure lasted, the more white matter damage there was.Preventing mental degeneration in the elderly"Controlling blood pressure is definitely one of the most important things," advises Walter Koroshetz, deputy director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health.