Life expectancy is rising steadily every year, with women living up to the age of 80 on average and men 75. You can set your life expectancy expectations even higher with my guide to living longer.

1. You’re having a laugh: Research shows that laughter lowers levels of stress hormones, and boosts immunity by heightening the activity of the body’s natural defensive killer cells and antibodies.
2. Sleep less: Sleeping more than eight hours a night may reduce your life expectancy. A study in the Archives of General Psychiatry, US, found that people who get only six to seven hours sleep a night live longer. People who sleep eight hours or more, or less than four hours, a night were shown to have a significantly higher death rate.
3. Make your marriage work: Being happily married leads to greater life expectancy for men and women. However, divorcing then remarrying actually increases the risk of dying prematurely, says a study in Health Psychology Journal. If you aren’t the marrying kind, don’t panic, close and loving relationships with friends, family members, neighbours, and even a pet, can all help you live longer.
4. Get fit: Fit women have a 40 per cent less chance of developing coronary heart disease than those who don’t exercise regularly and people who are unfit are three times more likely to die prematurely than those who are fitter.
5. Have sex: Couples with a healthy sex life can look up to seven years younger than those who don’t, according to a study at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. This is because sex reduces stress, leads to greater contentment and better sleep.
6. Live in the country: People living in rural areas have a higher life expectancy than those living in cities. If moving to the countryside just isn’t an option take advantage of every opportunity you can to walk in the park or visit the countryside.
7. Watch your weight: Overeating is one of the main causes of ageing and increases the risk of heart disease and cancers of the colon, womb, gall bladder, ovaries and breast. The British Heart Foundation says that coronary heart disease causes 270,000 heart attacks each year, and of these 28,000 is attributable to obesity.
8. Learn to play the piano: Whatever your age learning the piano, or any new skill that involves timing and coordination, such as dancing improves brain function.
9. See your glass as half full: Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in the US found that optimistic people live about 12 years longer than pessimistic ones. Pessimists are more prone to viral illnesses, such as colds and flu. They are also less likely to carry out the essential self-examinations that detect breast or skin cancer, while positive thinkers are more likely to take health advice, say the researchers.
10. Celebrate the non-smoking ban: From 1st July smoking has now been banned in public places in the UK and if you want to increase your life expectancy and are a smoker the earlier you give up the better. This is because the longer a person smokes the greater the risk of developing a smoking-related disease, such as lung cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Some 120,000 deaths a year are attributable to smoking, says anti-smoking lobby group, Ash.
11. Get on with your mother: A study by the Harvard Medical School found that 91 per cent of people who weren’t close to their mothers developed a serious disease – high blood pressure, alcoholism and heart disease – by midlife. Only 45 per cent of participants who said they had close relationships with their mothers developed these serious illnesses.
12. Get qualifications: The more qualifications you have, the higher your life expectancy, according to research at the University of Arkansas. The less well-educated are more likely to smoke, which increases the risk of heart disease and cancer, and they are more likely to work in jobs with a high risk of injury, say the researchers. And if you think you’re too old to go back to college you’re wrong; the number of mature students, including pensioners, is increasing dramatically every year.
13. Examine your breasts: Get to know how your breasts normally feel and look, and report any changes, such as a lump, dimpling, unusual pain or discharge to your doctor. The best time to do it is a week after your period. Remember that over nine out of ten lumps are benign, and many breast cancers are curable if they’re caught early enough.
14. Have regular smears: You’ll usually be called once every three or five years for a smear test, but if you’ve been putting it off make sure you fix up an appointment. Cervical screening probably prevents 2,500 deaths a year in the UK, says The Institute of Public Health. If you get a mild and/or borderline smear result then you should be tested for HPV (human papillomavirus). It is now known that HPV, which is also the cause of genital warts, is an infection which is linked to 99.7 percent of all cervical cancers. The current thinking is that by women with mild and/or borderline smear results having HPV testing, this could then prevent them being unnecessarily overtreated. (For more information on abnormal smears see my ebook available from www.marilynglenville.com). And while we are on the subject of screening pay attention to your bowel movements too and report anything unusual to your doctor immediately. Bowel cancer detected early can easily be treated and cured.
15. Eat a rainbow: Our mothers always told us to eat our greens but research suggests that we should actually be eating a rainbow of colours. The rainbow of colours from different fruits and vegetables provide us with the antioxidants which fight free radical damage linked to premature ageing, heart disease and cancer. So especially when you have your main meal of the day, think about the different colours you can have on one plate e.g. carrots, sweetcorn and broccoli or beetroot, yellow peppers and cabbage. These combinations are better for your health than a plate containing green beans, broccoli and peas.
16. Believe: Going to church, or having a belief system, increases life expectancy, according to a study in the International Journal for Psychiatry and Medicine. It’s particularly good at helping people’s stress and emotional problems, and seems to protect against diseases such as heart, respiratory or digestive problems.
17. Join a bridge club: As you get older, playing games or spending time on a hobby could be just as good for your health as physical exercise, according to a Harvard University study. The key to good health, conclude the researchers, is doing what you enjoy and feeling good about yourself.
18. Get your five a day: About 40 per cent of cancers are diet related, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research. Eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day to reduce your risk of cancer of the lung, digestive tract, bowel, bladder and breast.
19. Enjoy a cuppa: Green and ordinary black tea pack the same amount of antioxidants but green tea is preferable because it is not fermented like black tea. Green tea also has a fat burning effect and anti-cancer properties. Research from Harvard on black tea has shown that drinking one cup of black tea a day cuts heart disease risk dramatically. And scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre found that drinking tea once a day boosts the survival rate, following a heart attack, by 28 per cent.
20. Stress management: According to research from Johns Hopkins University, in the US, stressed people are 20 times more likely to develop heart disease. Prolonged tension also depletes the immune system and robs the body of its antioxidant store, thought to help prevent premature ageing. Try a relaxation technique such as yoga or meditation, both of which are proven to help alleviate stress. Relaxation reduces blood pressure and helps reduce stress-related conditions such as depression. You may also want to consider getting a pet. Families who own a dog or cat are less stressed and visit their doctors less often than those who don’t, say scientists from Cambridge University. Pets make you feel optimistic and relaxed, which lowers your blood pressure. Dogs give best results, but even fish are relaxing.

As you get older there is a steady, gradual drop in your basal metabolic rate (BMR). This drops by two per cent for every decade of your life. Therefore, over the years you may need to change what you do to stay fit slim and toned.

In your early twenties you naturally have more lean muscle and less fat, so your metabolic rate will be high. Staying in shape is also likely to be easier as the chances are you have more time to get active and to spend on yourself. Bear in mind though that by your mid-twenties, if you’re not exercising regularly – concentrated exercise, such as power walking, cycling or aerobics, say three times a week – muscle mass gradually starts to decline, slowing your metabolic rate and increasing your fat stores. It’s also crucial to make sure you eat breakfast because if you don’t, you slow down your metabolism and send the body into “hoard mode,” thinking it’s starving because you’re going a long period of time frequently 8 to 10 hours or more, without food.

The thirties, like the forties, can be a busy decade for most women jugging career and family life but extra weight tends to head for the hips on women and most of us try to work it off with running or aerobic exercise but what we really need is to do more toning – not only because toning helps you to control your shape, but crucially because toning also helps to protect against osteoporosis.

Dinner should be your lightest meal, and some experts recommend you don’t anything after 8 p.m., or any later than 3 to 4 hours before bedtime. This helps your body process and burn the food when you’re awake and moving around and burning more calories per hour. It’s also not a good idea to drop your calorie intake below 1,000 calories a day during this decade (or any decade) because this will signal to your body that you are in starvation mode, and will slow down your metabolism.

During your forties your BMR starts to slow down as hormone fluctuations occur and weight starts to settle around the stomach and waist. It is absolutely crucial during these years to do toning weight resistance exercises two to three times a week to build up your metabolism boosting muscle and to help prevent osteoporosis. Also instead of three to five aerobic sessions every week you need to do at least 30- 40 minutes of aerobic exercise a day to keep your metabolism boosted.

Smaller, more frequent meals and snacks keeps your blood sugar stable and provides a steady source of energy to fuel metabolism so don’t go for more than three hours without eating. You’ve heard it before, but drink those 8 glasses of water every day. The energy burning process of metabolism needs water to work effectively.

The average age for the onset of the menopause is 51. During the menopause the body produces less oestrogen, which can cause the rapid loss of bone density. For some women, the hormonal changes can trigger weight gain. Given that the metabolic rate continues to slow with age unless it’s speeded up by regular exercise and weight training exercises to build metabolism boosting muscle, menopause weight gain can be difficult to lose. Make sure you get some good quality muscle building protein with every meal you eat, such as eggs, fish, pulses, nuts, seeds and especially hormone balancing soya.

During the sixties and beyond, weight generally stabilises but this is the time when you need to keep a very close eye on your cholesterol levels to protect the health of your heart. Once again aerobic exercise is vital because it helps to lower high cholesterol and eating a diet naturally high in fibre, not adding bran, is also sound advice.

More than seven million people in Britain have long-term health problems linked to arthritis. The Arthritis Research Campaign estimates that more than 550,000 men and women have evidence of moderate to severe osteoarthritis of the knees.

Now a daily dose of vitamin D is being used to protect knees affected by osteoarthritis. Doctors involved in a clinical trial believe the vitamin may prevent or slow the breakdown of cartilage, the protective inner lining of joints that becomes damaged by the disease, resulting in pain and inflammation.

Previous research has shown people with severe arthritis of the knee have lower levels of vitamin D. The 140 patients involved in the new trial, aged 49 and over, will be given either 50mg of vitamin D a day or a placebo over two years. During and after the trial, cartilage loss will be measured, as well as levels of pain and movement. ‘There is evidence that vitamin D supplementation, a simple and cheap intervention, may prove useful in slowing the progression of osteoarthritis,’ say researchers leading the trial at the New England Medical Centre, in the U.S. You can take vitamin D in liquid form which is easier than taking a capsule or tablet. Call 0845 8800915 for more information.