The Lifestyle Factors That Matter >8 Times More Than Genes

We’ve said before that “genes predispose; they don’t predetermine”. It can be good to know one’s genes, of course, and we’ve written about this here:

Genetic Testing: Health Benefits & Methods

…which can include some quite contemporary risks, such as:

Genetic Risk Factors For Long COVID

And yet…

Nurture Over Nature

A very large (n=492,567) study looked into the impact of 25 lifestyle/environmental factors, of which 23 are considered modifiable, and found that lifestyle/environmental factors accounted for 17% of the variation in mortality risk, while genetic predisposition accounted for less than 2%.

Which is good news, because it means we can improve our lot.

But how?

The strongest negative factors (that increased mortality the most) were:

• Smoking
• Not owning your home (interestingly, “live in accommodation rent-free vs own” performed just as badly as various kinds of “renting home vs own”, while “own house with mortgage, vs own outright” had only a marginal negative effect)
• Sleeping more than 9 hours per day (performed even worse than sleeping under 7 hours per day, which also increased mortality risk, but not by as much as oversleeping)
• Financial difficulties in the past two years
• Homosexuality
• Unemployment
• Being an evening person
• Lonely lifestyle
• Frequent napping

We may hypothesize that homosexuality probably makes the list because of how it makes one more likely to have other items on the list, especially unemployment, and the various poverty-related indicators that come from unemployment.

Being an evening person, whatever its pathology, is a well-established risk factor that we’ve talked about before:

Early Bird Or Night Owl? Genes vs Environment ← this is also, by the way, an excellent example of how “genes predispose; they don’t predetermine”, because there is a genetic factor involved, and/but we absolutely can switch it up, if we go about it correctly, and become a morning person without trying to force it.

The strongest positive factors (that decreased mortality the most) were:

• The inverse of all of the various above things, e.g. never having smoked, owning your own home, etc
• Household income, specifically
• Living with a partner
• Having oil central heating
• Gym use
• Sun protection use
• Physical activity, especially if in leisure time rather than as part of one’s work
• Glucosamine supplements
• Family visit frequency
• Cereal fiber intake (i.e. whole grains)

We may hypothesize that having oil central heating is simply a more expensive option to install than many, and therefore likely one enjoyed by homeowners more often than renters.

We may hypothesize that glucosamine supplementation is an indication of the type of person who takes care of a specific condition (inflammation of the joints) without an existential threat; notably, multivitamin supplements don’t get the same benefit, probably because of their ubiquity.

We may hypothesize that “family visit frequency” is highly correlated to having a support network, being social (and thus not lonely), and likely is associated with household income too.

You can see the full list of factors and their impacts, here:

Environmental architecture of mortality in the UKB ← that’s the UK Biobank

You can read the paper in full, here:

Integrating the environmental and genetic architectures of aging and mortality

Practical takeaways

The priorities seem to be as follows:

Don’t smoke. Ideally you will never have smoked, but short of a time machine, you can’t change that now, so: what you can do is quit now if you haven’t already.

See also: Which Addiction-Quitting Methods Work Best?

Note that other factors often lumped in with such, for example daily alcohol consumption, red meat intake, processed meat intake, and salt intake, all significantly increased mortality risk, but none of them in the same league of badness as smoking.

See also: Is Sugar The New Smoking? ← simply put: no, it is not. Don’t get us wrong; added sugar is woeful for the health, but smoking is pretty much the worst thing you can do for your health, short of intentionally (and successfully) committing suicide.

Be financially secure, ideally owning your own home. For many (indeed, for most people in the world) this may be an “easier said than done” thing, but if you can make decisions that will improve your financial security, the mortality numbers are very clear on this matter.

Be social, as loneliness indeed kills, in numerous ways. Loneliness means a lack of a support network, and it means a lack of social contact (thus increased risk of cognitive decline), and likely decreased ikigai, unless your life’s purpose is something inherently linked to solitude (e.g. the “meditating on top of a mountain” archetype).

See also: What Loneliness Does To Your Brain And Body

And to fix it: How To Beat Loneliness & Isolation

Be active: especially in your leisure time; being active because you have to does convey benefits, but on the same level as physical activity because you want to.

See also: No-Exercise Exercises (That Won’t Feel Like “Having To Do” Exercise)

Use sunscreen: we’re surprised this one made the list; it’s important to avoid skin cancer of course, but we didn’t think it’d be quite such a driver of mortality risk mitigation as the numbers show it is, and we can’t think of a clear alternative explanation, as we could with some of the other “why did this make the list?” items. At worst, it could be a similar case to that of glucosamine use, and thus is a marker of a conscientious person making a regular sustained effort for their health. Either way, it seems like a good idea based on the numbers.

See also: Do We Need Sunscreen In Winter, Really?

Enjoy whole grains: fiber is super-important, and that mustn’t be underestimated!

See also: What Matters Most For Your Heart? ← hint: it isn’t about salt intake or fat

And, for that matter: The Best Kind Of Fiber For Overall Health?

Take care!