How to live 10 years longer

A healthy lifestyle at 75 gives a person the same chance of living for a further 10 years as someone a decade younger who smokes and drinks, a study has indicated.

For the first time researchers have calculated a pensioner's chances of surviving for another decade based on habits such as smoking, drinking, exercise and fruit consumption.

The study of more than 16000 people found that men aged 75 who smoked, regularly drank alcohol, had an inactive lifestyle and ate little fruit had only a 35% chance of being alive a decade later.

Others of the same age who did not smoke, exercised, ate fruit and drank moderately or not at all had a 67% chance of living for another decade - the same as men 10 years younger with unhealthy lifestyles.

Among women, 75-year-olds with healthy lifestyles had a 74% chance of being alive a decade later. The projection was only slightly lower for women 10 years' younger who smoked, drank a lot, rarely ate fruit and took little exercise.

Alcohol intake was classed as high if women reported drinking at least two units of alcohol a day (175ml wine) or if men said they drank at least four units (less than 946ml of lager) a day.

The study found that lifestyles had little effect on death rates among those aged 45 to 55, but had major consequences from the age of 65.

Smoking had the biggest effect on life expectancy, increasing the risk of premature death by 57%.

Each of the other three factors - alcohol, diet and exercise - increased the risk by about 15% each.

Eva Martin-Diener, of the University of Zurich's Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, the lead author of the report on the study, said: "The effect of each factor on life expectancy is relatively high. A healthy lifestyle can help you stay 10 years younger."

Women aged 65 with the healthiest lifestyles had a 90% chance of living another decade, compared with a 77% chance for those with unhealthy habits.

The chance of a man aged 65 living for another decade ranged from 67% to 86%, depending on his habits, the research found.