25 Surprising Ways to Live Longer

9. Stoke your spiritual side

Whether it’s due to the social benefits or the psychological effects of religious observance, attendance at places of worship promotes a longer life, according to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the data were derived from the long-running Nurses’ Health Study of almost 75,000 women. Those who attended services more than once a week had a 33 percent lower risk of dying during the 16-year follow-up period, compared with women who never went to a church, mosque or synagogue. Those who attended services once a week had a 26 percent lower risk, and those who went less than once a week had a 13 percent lower risk. How religious attendance extends lifespan isn’t completely understood, the authors noted. Other expressions of faith and spirituality may offer a similar longevity boost. 

10. Focus on flexibility

Flexibility isn’t just important for graceful movements but also for survival, suggests a recent study in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. Researchers measured the range of motion of multiple joints to assign a flexibility score to more than 3,000 people ages 45 to 65, then followed them for an average of 13 years. Result: “Our study is the first able to show that reduced levels of body flexibility are related to higher mortality in middle-aged and older men and women,” says study author Claudio Gil Araújo, M.D., dean of research and education at Brazil’s Clínica de Medicina do Exercício. (To learn how to test your joint mobility, check out Arauju’s Flexitest video.) 

11. Choose life-lengthening physical activities

While almost any type of workout or sport can help boost your longevity, certain activities may be especially good for it, according to research in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Researchers mined data on 26,727 Americans ages 18 to 84 to examine the effect of 15 different exercises on mortality rates over a 17-year period. After taking into account other factors that might also improve health, researchers found that walking, aerobics, stretching, weight lifting and stair climbing were linked to lower risks of mortality. Stretching and volleyball stood out for reasons that the researchers could only guess at. But stretching prolongs engagement with other sports, because it’s often performed before or after another activity. And volleyball provides social contact, which increases lifespan all on its own. That may also explain how tennis has a life-extending effect, according to research in the International Journal of Exercise Science. People who hit the courts regularly gained 9.7 additional years of life on average, compared to those who never picked up a racket. The study didn't include pickleball, America’s fastest-growing sport, but like tennis, pickleball gets your heart beating, challenges your brain to keep score and is super social. If you’d like to give it a try, check out AARP’s Guide to Pickleball, which includes information on free clinics across the country.

12. Take a glass-half-full approach to life

Looking on the bright side can help you achieve a long life, shows a recent study of a racially diverse group of nearly 160,000 women ages 50 to 79 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Researchers found that the most optimistic women live about 4.5 years longer (5.4 percent) than the least optimistic, based on answers to questions about their outlook and health data. The research team couldn’t say exactly how optimism extends life, though some of the benefits can be explained by the healthy behaviors of optimistic people. People with a hopeful attitude also have a greater chance of living into their 90s, a study of both men and women in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) found.

13. Try an age-reversal program

Researchers recently tested an eight-week lifestyle regimen designed to slow biological aging on a small group of women between ages 46 and 65. The group consumed a lot of leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts) along with other foods suspected of slowing aging (beets, pumpkin seeds, berries, eggs, liver, garlic). The women also worked out, took a probiotic, practiced breathing exercises and tried to get at least seven hours of sleep each night. The lifestyle changes paid off: Published in the journal Aging, the data showed that the women shaved off about four years in terms of biological age. In previous research, men between the ages of 50 and 72 years took the same measures, reducing their biological age by an average of 3 years as compared to a control group that didn’t follow the program.

14. Send good vibes to others

Practicing loving-kindness meditation has been linked to slower biological aging, according to a new study published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. When practicing this type of meditation, participants are taught to send unconditional love and goodwill to themselves and others. In a randomized controlled trial involving 142 people, researchers measured the length of participants’ telomeres, the caps on the ends of chromosomes that keep them from fraying; the longer their telomeres, the slower their aging. After 12 weeks, researchers found that telomere length among the people who practiced wishing others well was longer on average than that of people who practiced other forms of meditation or didn’t meditate at all. 

15. Brush your teeth

If you aren’t already brushing and flossing your teeth twice a day, it’s a good idea to start, suggests a report from British researchers in the journal Scientific Reports which highlights the importance of good dental hygiene for enjoying a long life. After taking into account the effects of chronic diseases and behavioral factors like smoking and exercise on a person’s mortality risk, researchers found that people with oral health problems like tooth loss and dry mouth had shorter lives. Those with periodontal disease (gum infections) were more likely to die from heart problems. That’s because bacteria from the mouth can travel through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, contributing to inflammation and heart woes.

16. See or talk to a friend every day 

So suggests research in the journal Frontiers of Public Health that investigated how interacting with others affects mortality. Scientists categorized nearly 10,000 people in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey as socializing occasionally, monthly, weekly or every day, then followed them. The result: “A higher frequency of social activities was associated with an increased likelihood of extended survival,” says lead study author Sen He, M.D., of the West China of Hospital Sichuan University in Chengdu, China. Although people who socialized at any frequency lived longer than the group that didn’t during the first five years of the study, only those who had near-daily interactions saw a significant longevity advantage over the long term. 

17. Use plant-based oils instead of butter 

This one switch may lengthen your lifespan, say Harvard researchers who followed more than 200,000 people for over 30 years. They found that substituting just 10 grams per day of butter (about two-thirds of a tablespoon) with an equivalent amount of plant-based oils was linked to a 17 percent reduction in total mortality. Based on the data, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the best oils to switch to are olive, soybean and canola, says study author Yu Zhang. “These oils are rich in unsaturated fats and have been consistently linked with benefits such as improved cholesterol levels and reduced inflammation — factors that are also very important for longevity,” he says. Zhang recommends making the switch gradually so that your palate adjusts to the new flavors.

18. Get your Z’s

Sleep problems can lead to a shorter life expectancy, according to recent research in QJM: An International Journal of Medicine. Using a survey that asked 172,321 people the number of hours they slept per night and how often they had trouble falling and staying asleep, woke up feeling rested, and took medication to help fall or stay asleep, researchers assigned each person a sleep score. The analysis showed that men who had optimal sleep scores lived five years longer on average than those who didn’t, while women who slept well lived an extra two years. Make sleep a priority, and if need be, seek professional help such as cognitive behavioral therapy, which has proven particularly helpful for sleep issues.

19. Clean up your diet

What you eat has a powerful impact on your life expectancy, suggests a recent study in Nature Food. To reach that conclusion, an international group of researchers relied on data from the UK Biobank of 500,000 people and a model for estimating gains and losses in life expectancy when individuals adopt and maintain healthy eating habits at midlife. By closely following the UK’s Eatwell Guide (similar to the U.S. dietary guidelines for Americans), participants gained almost nine years in life expectancy. And sustaining the diet changes over a lifetime was linked to a more than 10-year gain in expected lifespan. The greatest gains in longevity came from eating more whole grains, nuts and fruits, and less sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meats, the study authors say. Another analysis of the eating patterns of more than 100,000 U.S. participants in a large study published March 2025 in Nature Medicine found that those who followed a similar diet were more likely to stay healthy as they aged.

20. Take the stairs 

That’s the bottom line from researchers at the UK’s University of East Anglia and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust after conducting a review of nine studies involving more than 480,000 people. They found that compared to not taking the stairs, those who climbed stairs had a 24 percent lower risk of an early death. Those who shunned elevators also had a 39 percent lower chance of dying from cardiovascular disease. The data also suggests that the more stairs climbed, the greater the benefits. “Whether at work, home or elsewhere, take the stairs,” says study author Sophie Paddock, M.D.

21. Take all of your vacation days

More than 40 percent of Americans failed to use all their paid time off in 2023, according to a recent survey from the Pew Research Center. But research suggests taking regular breaks may lead to better health and a longer life. A study from researchers at the State University of New York at Oswego and the University of Pittsburgh, published in Psychosomatic Medicine, followed a group of more than 12,000 men for nine years. According to author Brooks B. Gump, now a professor of public health at Syracuse University, annual trips of any length reduced the overall risk of death by about 20 percent, and the risk of death from heart disease by as much as 30 percent. A decrease in stress and harmful inflammation may account for the effect.

22. Snack on Brazil nuts

These nuts contain copious quantities of selenium, a mineral that’s been extensively studied for its antioxidant and anti-aging properties. A review study in the journal Molecules showed that blood levels of selenium are highest among the oldest residents of areas associated with unusual longevity in China. And decreases in selenium levels were linked to a higher mortality risk in France, a study in Clinical Chemistry found. (Selenium supplements, however, don’t seem to have the same effects.) Seafood and organ meats such as liver are other rich sources of the mineral, and most people get enough in everyday items such as fortified breads and cereals, poultry, red meat and eggs. But it can’t hurt to have your selenium levels tested to be sure. 

23. Combat loneliness

Isolation and loneliness are on the rise across the globe. Yet rich social ties can mean the difference between a long life and death at an earlier age, suggests data published in PLOS Medicine. When researchers reviewed 148 studies related to longevity and social support that included 308,849 people, they found that those with the weakest personal ties had a 50 percent greater mortality risk than those with robust social networks, regardless of age, sex or health status. Loneliness was as detrimental to lifespan as health factors like alcohol and smoking. If you are lonely, do what you can to improve your social life: Check out your local senior center, take a class or re-establish ties with people you’ve lost touch with. AARP state offices offer exercise classes, meetups, volunteer opportunities and other ways to be around people. AARP’s Ethel Circle, a closed Facebook group, is a safe space where women over 60 can talk openly and honestly about the very real challenges and joys associated with growing older. There are Ethel Gathering Groups in 47 states, where more than 35,000 women are meeting up and making friends.

24. Take a short midday nap

A daily nap may do more than help you get through the day — it could also help you live a longer life. But only if you keep it short, research shows. In a study in JAMA Internal Medicine of some 20,000 Greek people that took place over six years, researchers found that those who took a midday nap had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease, probably due to the stress-lowering effects of sleep. But, hints other research of more than 150,000 people in a study published by Sleep, napping longer than 45 minutes may increase the risk of dying prematurely. Those who had longer naps had a greater risk of mortality from any cause, though it’s possible that they slept more during the day due to an underlying health problem.

25. Give thanks

Do you pause to appreciate the good things in your life? That habit could be one of the secrets to a longer life, according to a recent study in JAMA Psychiatry. Researchers used data from the long-running Nurses’ Health Study and questionnaires that assessed levels of gratitude among 49,275 women whose collective average age was 79, over four years. Their findings: Participants who scored the highest on measures of gratitude had a 9 percent lower risk of death from any cause. Gratitude was particularly protective against heart disease. Says study author and epidemiologist Tyler J. Vanderweele of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, “The high-gratitude group was 15 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease.”