The Lifestyle Factors that Affect Your Health
When it comes to the modifiable lifestyle factors that impact your health & well-being, there is an expansive amount of options to choose from.
At this point, the research is comprensive enough to draw the picture of what is available to you.
However, I’ve yet to see a resource created compiling all of them together into a single, detailed list.
This article WILL explain what the relevant lifestyle factors are that impact your health and why they do.
This article WON’T discuss the strategies available to you to improve each lifestyle factor; otherwise this article would become needlessly long.
My hope is that this article will give you a better idea of what to focus on, and what does NOT deserve your attention if you are seeking to improve your health through lifestyle change.
This list is in no particular order
If you want to discuss any of these in particular in regard to strategies appropriate for you, my email is open. Contact me at info@fitnesssimplified.org and I will be happy to discuss with you. Or, you are welcome to comment below.
What does ‘lifestyle’ even mean?
Before beginning, let’s get our definitions straight.
For the purposes of this article and in congruency with most other working definitions, we will define lifestyle interventions as:
not related to medication or surgery
you are able to implement the change without the direct assistance of another individual
For instance, you can implement an exercise routine autonomously; however, you can’t implement a physical therapy routine autonomously.
What does ‘health’ even mean?
The classic definition of health is the absence of chronic disease, mental disability, or physical disability. [1,2]
For the purposes of this article, we will add the maintenance of high quality of life & life satisfaction, improved physical function, and improved mental function to our working definition.
So, in other words, not just avoiding the bad- but promoting the good.
With that said, here are the major lifestyle factors that impact your health.
#1: Exercise, training & fitness
Here, I am referring to activity done to elicit a specific fitness adaptation; such as improved cardio or improved strength.
In other words, training improving your fitness.
Yeah, it might be obvious, but the magnitude this has in regard to improving your health is so large that it not only needed to be discussed- it’s worth talking about first.
This list is not in order of importance, but the level of your fitness arguably has the biggest impact on the quality of your health and your potential for a good quality of life.
When it comes to developing fitness for the purpose of improving health, it’s generally best practice to develop all aspects of fitness. However, two seem to have the biggest effect: strength and endurance.
The health benefits of training for each of these fitness overlap a great deal. All together, they include:
Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease [3]
Reduced risk of cancer formation [6]
Reducing risk of cognitive decline [7]
Improved cognition speed & memory recall [10]
Improved mood & mental health [11]
Improvement and maintenance of physical function throughout the lifespan [12]
If you are seeking to improve your health & quality of life, this should be the first area you should be looking at. There is nothing as effective, accessible, and cost-efficient as improving your fitness is at bettering your health.
#2: General physical activity
General physical activity refers to activity that is not done to yield specific fitness adaptations.
Examples of this include your daily step count, moving throughout the kitchen while cooking, etc.
Your daily step count is often used as the metric for this because:
It is the easiest way metric to track in this regard
It is the easiest factor you can modify within general physical activity
The magnitude of difference that a sedentary life versus an active life makes cannot be understated.
The higher the average steps a person takes in a day: the greater their glucose metabolism, the lower their risk for cardiovascular disease, and the longer they live. [13,14,15,16]
In a real sense, the more you move, the more of a reason your muscles have to uptake glucose from the blood stream and the more blood you flow through the body. The chronic absence of which can have dire consequences.
So, how many steps do you need?
All of the data on this is pretty clear: more is better. However, there does come a point of diminishing returns.
Graph from Sheng et al. (2021)
This graph depicts the relationship between average daily step count and risk of death from chronic disease (heart disease, diabetes, etc.)
As you can see, the rate of increased benefits slows down right around the ~5k steps per day mark.
Based on this, setting a minimum goal of 5k steps per day + exercise aimed at developing strength & endurance should have you covered as far as activity for health goes.
#3: Improving & maintaining good body composition
Body composition is defined as the amount of body fat and muscle mass you have, as those are the only two that are modifiable. Both body fat and skeletal muscle mass are organs that can influence the rate of inflammation within your body.
Adipose tissue (body fat) releases a group of compounds into the body called adipokines. These serve as a low-level inflammatory signal. At normal body fat levels, this low-level inflammation provides a hostile environment for any bacteria or viruses we come in contact with; therefore benefitting us. In the context of excess body fat (obesity), this low-level signal of inflammation turns into a bigger signal; resulting in chronically elevated inflammatory signals. [17]
Conversely, skeletal muscle releases a group of compounds called myokines. These serve to balance the effect of adipokines- regulating inflammation. They also help improve insulin sensitivity (improve glucose metabolism), and help reduce risk of diabetes. [18]
Looking at outcomes more directly, better body compositions do tend to lead to greater health outcomes and better prevention of chronic disease. [19,20]
This isn’t to say that less body fat and more muscle is beneficial to an infinite degree. Reaching body fat levels that are too low may result in significant hormone disruption, and in extreme cases leads to death.
What is considered a healthy body fat % varies greatly based on sex and age. To see what an appropriate range is for you, refer here to the ACSM’s fitness categories for body composition.
Bodyweight & body composition is largely a result of energy balance: how many calories you consume versus how many you burn in a day. [37] There is more to it than just this, but this is why your overall calorie intake is one of the most important considerations of your nutrition.
#4: Protein intake
If this list were in order of magnitude/importance, this portion would likely be on the lower end.
The reason: protein intake is health-promoting insofar that it supports the previously mentioned lifestyle factors. [21] Furthermore, a high protein intake is unlikely to bring much benefits without a structured exercise & activity routine. However, given how much it benefits these other factors, it’s worth including.
Higher protein intakes lead to greater increases in strength, muscle mass, and endurance than lower protein intakes. [22] Higher protein diets tend to be more satiating, making it easier to control calories and manage weight. [23] Lastly, high-protein intakes are considered one of the most effective strategies for fighting sarcopenia- the age related loss of muscle mass and function. [24]
So, how much protein do you need?
As the research currently stands, the ideal target seems to be 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram body mass. In other words, 0.72 grams of protein per pound bodyweight. [25] This is the point where eating more doesn’t provide more benefit, but eating less leaves benefits on the table.
So, if you weighed 150 pounds, you would need 109 grams of protein each day to get the full benefit. If you weighed 200 pounds, you’d need ~144 grams of protein to get the full benefit.
#5: Fiber intake
For most Americans wanting to improve their health, increasing their fiber intake is one of the lowest hanging fruits.
Fiber is a specific form of non-digestible carbohydrate. There are two main types: soluble and insoluble. [26] These nutrients serve many functions in the body with notable ones being food for the gut microbiome, adding mass to stool, and clearing LDL(c). [27]
The benefits of higher fiber intakes are extensive. All-in-all, it seems to have an inverse relationship with nearly every chronic disease. That is, the more you eat, the lower your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. [28]
So, how much fiber do you need?
The recommended intake for fiber is 14 grams per 1000 calories consumed. [28] For most people, this will end up being somewhere between 25-40 grams of fiber per day.
For perspective, the average american eats ~15 grams of fiber per day. [29] About half of what they actually need.
#6: Micronutrient intake: vitamins, minerals & phytonutrients
Protein, carbohydrates, and fats are referred to as macronutrients and vitamins & minerals are referred to as micronutrients because the absolute amount of each we need is drastically different. For instance, a person may eat 200-400 grams of carbs in a day but only need 90 milligrams of vitamin C; a a 2,000x difference in absolute amount.
There are over 20 vitamins and minerals essential for human health, and many other micronutrients that are not ‘essential’ but do meaningfully improve health outcomes; such as polyphenols or anthocyanins.
These, along with fiber, are largely why fruits & vegetables are considered good for you.
With that said, the most effective & cost-efficient means to hit this goal is to eat ~5 servings of fruits or vegetables each day.
A multi-vitamin is better than nothing, but the research on their effectiveness to improve health is dismal compared simply eating more fruits & vegetables. [30]
Consuming other whole foods such as nuts, legumes, sees, etc. also greatly helps you in this area.
#7: Omega-3 fatty acid intake (EPA + DHA)
Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are two essential omega-3 fatty acids that most people don’t eat nearly enough of. These are the fats found in fatty fish, such as salmon, are often considered “healthy” fats. They are also the main fats found in fish oil supplements.
Sufficient intake of these comes with the following benefits:
Improved blood lipid panels and may reduce risk of cardiovascular events [31]
Reduced stress & reduced risk of major depressive disorder [32,33]
Improved strength & muscle anabolism [34]
Regularly consuming foods such as salmon, halibut, sardines, anchovies, etc. makes the most effective means to get your omega-3s in. If preferred, a fish oil supplement would work.
#8: Omega-6 polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat intake
Omega-6 polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats are the other forms of dietary fat often considered to be “healthy fats.”
These have been shown to greatly improve cardiovascular risk factors with higher intakes.
They’re most commonly found in fat-containing plant foods such as avocados, nuts, seeds, etc.
#9: Sodium intake
Sodium is a problem insofar that its intake is closely associated with blood pressure, and chronically elevated blood pressure is very predictive of cardiovascular events; such as a heart attack. [35]
Sodium is the 11th element on the periodic table. When combined with chloride, it forms table salt (sodium chloride).
Salt is added to foods products for taste and shelf-life preservation. Given that these are two features very valuable to us and food companies, salt is added to nearly every food you buy out.
As a result, it’s very common for intakes to reach very high levels without you ever realizing.
This is one of the reasons it is considered “healthier” to eat in rather than eat out.
The average intake across the US is ~3000-5000 mg of sodium per day, and the widely accepted recommendation is to keep sodium intake under 2000 mg.
However, as previously mentioned, sodium is a problem insofar that it increases blood pressure, and it is the chronically elevated blood pressure that is a problem.
So, the best way to know if you need to become more conscious about your sodium intake is to get an understanding of where your blood pressure is at.
This blood pressure cuff is available on amazon for $40, and it will allow you to regularly check your blood pressure in as little as two minutes.
#10: Saturated fat intake
Saturated fat is another nutrient worth limiting. When it comes to increasing cholesterol (LDL(c), ApoB), there is no nutrient more potent. As you may know, increases in LDL(c) and ApoB are very predictive of cardiovascular events; such as heart attacks. [36]
There are numerous kinds of saturated fat found in the diet, but the most potent source is land-based animal foods. Examples of saturated fat containing foods include red meat, chicken thighs, pork & bacon, etc.
I made a point to note “land-based” animal foods because not all animal foods are potent saturated fat sources. For instance: eggs have some saturated fat, but most of their fat content is monounsaturated fat; the same fat found in olive oil.
Similarly, seafood is considered an animal food, but saturated fat generally isn’t found here.
The widely accepted recommendation here is to keep your saturated fat intake to less than 10% of your total calorie intake. So, if you were to eat 2500 calories in a day, your saturated fat intake (ideally) will be less than 28 grams.
#11: Sleep duration & quality
You knew this one was coming.
If this list was in order, this would be close to #1.
Quality sleep is essential for proper functioning of all your body’s systems. With one bad night’s sleep you feel this. What’s also true is multiple bad nights of sleep in a row have a compounding, detrimental effect on your health. [38]
Good sleep, as you already know, has the opposite effect. The cool and under-appreciated aspect of this is that there are immediate benefits. If you get a good duration of restful sleep, you will feel good throughout the next day. If you have multiple nights like this, your health & well-being will be much more resilient.
Good sleep looks like the following:
~7-9 hours in duration
Some people do better with 7, others with 9. It’s worth experimenting with different durations to see what makes you feel best
Regular sleep/wake cycle
This refers to going to bed and waking up at around the same time each day.
#12: Spirituality / sense of purpose
The blue zones are areas on the planet in which the average life expectancy is exceptionally high.
Most people hear of this and think they’re doing something right nutritionally.
What I believe they ACTUALLY get right is there sense of spirituality, purpose and community (discussed next).
In the scientific literature, spirituality is often defined as belief in a higher power. Sometimes that means a formal religion, sometimes it does not. In some cases, it is defined as having a sense of purpose for one’s life.
It’s well documented that such a belief leads to healthier aging and longer lifespans. [39] There doesn’t seem to be one specific mechanism as to why this is helpful for lifespan. Rather, this seems to involve a number of different psychobiological reasons.
If you don’t consider yourself a religious or spiritual person already, I don’t think the practical advice here is to just pick one and start practicing. However, I do think you can cash in on this by asking yourself a few questions:
What is your purpose? Why are you here?
What ACTUALLY matters to you?
#13: Community / social circle / sense of belonging
This ties in closely with the previously mentioned lifestyle variable. However, given that this alone has a potent effect on lifespan independently, it’s worth giving its own section.
Humans are social creatures. Isolation can be detrimental to our health. In the past, the reason for this was greater difficulty in nature as compared to being in a group. In our modern world, isolation is bad due to its detriments to our mental health.
A 2021 meta-analysis [40] found that the richness of your social circle has a direct impact on the health-span and lifespan you experience.
#14: Stress management
The final lifestyle factor worth considering is managing your day-to-day stress levels.
The term “stress” can have many definitions. Here, we are referring to perceived feelings of stress such as anxiety or worry.
In the case of chronic stress or chronically encountering stressful situations, blood pressure and inflammation can become chronically elevated.
That’s not to say that 0 stress is better, though.
What’s most appropriate is managing levels of stress to a degree that your body can handle. Those who more skilled at stress management techniques and practice them regularly tend to have greater health outcomes than those who don’t. [41]
Summary & conclusion
My intention with this article is for you to have a better idea of where to devote your efforts if you wish to improve your health & well-being through lifestyle changes.
So often I see people dedicate huge amounts of efforts to initiatives that just won’t do too much for them. Examples of this include fasting, apple cider vinegar, avoiding artificial sweeteners, restricting carbohydrates, etc.
These may be flashier across social media, but they are not as effective.
I would not recommend you attempt to improve all 14 of these at once. Rather, try to identify where you may be lacking the most, spend ~1-3 weeks working on that, and then work on another.
If you would like some help with this process, then consider applying for coaching here.
