We compiled 10 ways to live longer, happier, and healthier. Most of us hope to live into a ripe old age, especially if we remain happy and active. Research continues to show that our lifestyle choices greatly affect our life expectancy and quality of life.

Even life-long habits change with some consideration and diligence. It might not happen overnight. But making these changes benefits you and your family.

The research at Harvard, the first 5 in our list

Harvard research finds a healthier lifestyle can prolong life expectancy at age 50 by about 14 years for women and 12 years for men. The study suggests that Americans may add more than a decade to their lives just by adopting a few good habits.

“The general population just needs to adopt a small step forward toward a healthier lifestyle,” says the lead researcher, Yanping Li, MD, PhD, a scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

Dr Li added that results indicated that it is never too late to put healthy habits into action. He said that even a “modest improvement” in lifestyle behaviors could make a “big impact” on longevity. In fact, these changes help in the prevention of heart disease and premature mortality in people who have heart disease.

Li adds that the findings of his research show a “large space of potential improvement of the life expectancy of Americans” if these changes are made.

Changes, simple yet not always easy

Unfortunately, most people find such changes easier said than done. We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, with a high quality of life. Yet Americans have a shorter life expectancy compared with other high-income nations including Canada or Japan, according to the American Heart Association.

Heart disease and stroke play a major role in early deaths in the United States. Each day, 2,300 people die from heart disease. That’s one death every 38 seconds. Marc Gillinov, MD, chair of the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at Cleveland Clinic, remarks that heart disease, the number-one killer in the U.S., is usually preventable. He states that  “lifestyle habits and choices.” account for “90 percent of the risk”

“The other 10 percent is genes, age, and gender,” says Dr. Gillinov. “What that means is that only a small minority of us are genetically determined to get coronary heart disease”.  In other words, more than 2000 deaths each day can be prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle. Is it any wonder that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States ranks 31st in life expectancy worldwide?

Countering culture to find 10 ways to live longer

Unfortunately, our culture has infused many of these unhealthy behaviors. Our bodies do best when we are active and eat healthy, fresh, whole-foods. But the standard American diet is more likely to be fast food take-out or processed, ready-to-eat.

Dr. Gillinov states, “We’ve found that increased awareness has been ineffective in reducing the prevalence and incidence of diseases. We have much better treatments and far better preventions, but we still haven’t moved very far in decreasing the presence of these diseases. It’s going to require more of a public and private policy partnership to make changes since it doesn’t seem like people are going to do it on their own,”

Doctors like Dr. Li and Dr. Gillinov believe that our life expectancy and quality of life would improve greatly by making some basic healthy lifestyle choices.

In Dr. Gillinov’s words, “The big takeaway is that each one of us can modify our risk of coronary heart disease or having a heart attack or suffering a stroke,” he adds. “It’s almost completely in your control to make healthy lifestyle changes, to take charge.”

The 5 Ways from the Harvard Study

The good news: These habits aren’t part of some unreachable fountain of youth, but are instead simple changes in behavior. They are:

• Don’t smoke.
• Eat a healthy diet.
• Include moderate-to-vigorous exercise for at least 30 minutes every day.
• Maintain a healthy body weight.
• Consume alcohol in moderation, if at all.