{"id":4542,"date":"2025-07-09T10:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T10:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.villages.com.au\/?p=4542"},"modified":"2025-07-09T10:35:33","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T10:35:33","slug":"remember-these-five-habits-for-a-long-healthy-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.villages.com.au\/retirement\/remember-these-five-habits-for-a-long-healthy-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember these five habits for a long, healthy life"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"4542\" class=\"elementor elementor-4542\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-02f35b9 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"02f35b9\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-c6a58c1\" data-id=\"c6a58c1\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b61269c elementor-drop-cap-yes elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b61269c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;drop_cap&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.15.0 - 20-08-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p>N<strong>ew research shows the simple lifestyle changes that may protect your gut \u2013 and even override your genes.<\/strong><\/p><p>If you want to live well into your later years, science says there are five simple habits that can make all the difference.<\/p><p>Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scimex.org\/newsfeed\/healthy-lifestyles-linked-to-avoiding-common-gut-problem-for-over-50s\">analysed health data<\/a> from nearly 180,000 people over 50, across three major studies. Their goal? To pinpoint the lifestyle factors that help prevent one of the most common gut conditions affecting older adults: diverticulitis.<\/p><p>This painful condition occurs when small \u201cpouches\u201d form along the colon and become inflamed or infected. It\u2019s one of the leading causes of hospitalisation and emergency bowel surgery in older Australians.<\/p><p>But the good news? It\u2019s often preventable \u2013 no matter your family history.<\/p><p><strong>The five keys to better gut health<\/strong><\/p><p>According to the study, participants with a high \u201chealthy lifestyle score\u201d had a significantly lower risk of developing diverticulitis, even if they were genetically predisposed.<\/p><p>Here\u2019s what made the biggest difference:<\/p><ul><li><strong>Eating plenty of fibre<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Limiting red meat<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Staying smoke-free<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Maintaining a healthy weight<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Exercising regularly<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>\u201cOur data provide consistent evidence\u2026 that adherence to a healthy lifestyle is linked to a reduced risk of developing diverticulitis, irrespective of one\u2019s genetic predisposition,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p><p><strong>Why it matters<\/strong><\/p><p>This research isn\u2019t just about preventing diverticulitis \u2013 it\u2019s a timely reminder that healthy daily habits can have long-term benefits, no matter your age.<\/p><p>And it\u2019s never too late to start. Whether you\u2019re already ticking off a few of these boxes or just beginning to make changes, every step counts.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New research shows the simple lifestyle changes that may protect your gut \u2013 and even override your genes. If you want to live well into your later years, science says there are five simple habits that can make all the difference. Researchers at Massachusetts General&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retirement"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4542"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4547,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4542\/revisions\/4547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}