A study by the Guttmann Institute, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona and Harvard Medical School, analyses for the first time how the combination of nine lifestyle habits can influence the future development of different pathologies.
Sleep quality, diet, socialization, and tobacco or alcohol consumption are aspects that significantly influence health. For this reason, depending on the lifestyle habits that a person leads, he or she will face one or more of the following: Other risks of aging.
This is what the Guttman Institute has set out to analyse in its study, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona and Harvard Medical School.
Research observes how nine lifestyle habits tend to combine and remain clustered together over time in healthy middle-aged individualspredisposing them in the future to develop one or another pathology depending on this combination.
First study on the impact of cognition, socialization, life plan and sleep
For this analysis, researchers studied nine lifestyle habits that could influence aging in a group of more than 3 thousand people.
The variables chosen were:
• Cognitive reserve
• Socialization
• Nutrition
• Alcohol
• Body mass index (BMI)
• Physical activity
• Sleep quality
• Life plan
• Tobacco
“The studies that have existed until now have focused on analyzing variables individually, but not on how they tend to group together and how they influence health when they coexist,” explains David Bartrés-Faz, Principal Investigator at BBHI and Professor of Medical Psychology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Barcelona.
They also point out that no previous research had explored the combined impact of socialization, sleep, cognition and life plan, “the latter having a strong impact on brain health,” explains the expert.
Types of profiles
Based on how lifestyle habits tend to cluster in individuals, the results of the analysis identified five profiles of people, based on their lifestyle and the potential risks they face. may arise with aging:
• Healthy
With good levels of cognitive activity, nutrition, physical activity, sleep quality, socialization and life plan, a body mass index (BMI) within normal limits and low tobacco and alcohol consumption.
• Low cognitive reserve
Comprised of people with low cognitive activity (few cognitively stimulating activities) and lower indices of socialization and life plan, but with better values of alcohol, tobacco and BMI consumption, compared to other groups.
• Obesogenic
Characterized by a high BMI, poor nutrition and little physical activity.
• Heavy smokers
They also have lower vital signs and high levels of cholesterol and hypertension.
• Alcohol-sleep
They consume alcohol at harmful levels and have poor sleep quality. They also tend to use tobacco and have low indices of well-being, quality of life, meaning in life, socialisation and perception of mental and general health.
Having healthy habits prevents the risk of contracting diseases
The researchers developed a table showing the risks of future illnesses based on the various profiles identified.
The types of pathologies it focuses on are: psychiatric, neurological and cardiovascular.
First, the green circles indicate a negative association, indicating a lower probability of disease, while Red circles indicate a positive associationindicating a higher probability of contracting one of these pathologies.
On the other hand, the size of the circles represents the strength of the association. Larger circles indicate a stronger relationship between the person’s profile and the type of disease.
Furthermore, single morbidity (unique) refers to individuals with a single disease, while multimorbidity refers to people with multiple chronic pathologies.
By analyzing the evolution of each individual’s health, the team identified associations between each profile and the risk of developing various pathologies.
Mainly, they showed that the “healthy” profile has a lower risk of developing chronic diseases and better general and mental health.
The high BMI profile has a higher risk of multiborbidity, which implies having more than one diagnosed chronic pathology, such as cancer, diabetes or kidney disease.
On the other hand, alcohol consumers have a moderate risk of multimorbidity and a high risk of psychiatric illnesses (mainly anxiety and depression).
In addition, heavy smokers are more likely to develop cardiovascular pathologies, followed by neurological diseases and multimorbidity.
Concern about brain health
The study is part of the Barcelona Brain Health initiative, a research project by the Institut Guttmann, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona and Harvard Medical School, which aims to know and understand how we can preserve health of the brain over time.
According to this initiative, people’s habits and lifestyles are closely related to brain health.
This research is particularly relevant because it has established profiles of people taking into account the coexistence of healthy and unhealthy habits, so our approach is much more realistic and, therefore, allows us to propose solutions adapted to real life,” says Alba Roca, neuropsychologist and predoctoral researcher of the study.
Based on these results, the research team stresses that it is important to design interventions that take into account lifestyle habits as a whole.
This is important at any age, as lifestyle choices have a protective effect even in young people, but it is “crucial during middle age, when health problems related to the cumulative effect of an unhealthy lifestyle begin to emerge,” concludes Bartrés-Faz.
(With information from EFE)
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