A 35-year study followed middle-aged men to determine their types of disease in relation to key lifestyle factors such as regular exercise, non-smoking, a low body weight, a healthy diet and a low alcohol intake. Men who adopted 4 of these 5 criteria had a 60% reduction in dementia and a 70% reduction in diabetes and stroke. This is an astounding reduction in disease. Exercise was the strongest factor that reduced risk.

“The size of reduction in the instance of disease owing to these simple healthy steps has really amazed us and is of enormous importance in an aging population,” said Principle Investigator Professor Peter Elwood from Cardiff University’s School of Medicine. “What the research shows is that following a healthy lifestyle confers surprisingly large benefits to health—healthy behaviors have a far more beneficial effect than any medical treatment or preventative procedure.”

That last statement is of special importance. We waste hundreds of billions of dollars per year on drugs that cannot possibly fix health problems when for the bulk of people all that is needed is taking responsibility to be healthy for themselves from middle age on.

The study also proved that men are not very good at taking such responsibility for their own well being. Only 1% of the men were able to meet the five criteria over the 35-year period, whereas 5% met 4 of 5. A whopping 95% of men could not see the handwriting on the wall well enough to make proper changes, resulting in massive disease and lost quality of health. The mental calculations resulting in the behaviors of the 95% are not any standard IQ tests, but they should be on the IQ test for street smarts.