Bad habits take a decade off life: study

SHOOT: I'm not surprised. One of the best ways to combat bad habits? Exercise.

clipped from news.yahoo.com PARIS (AFP) – Middle-aged male smokers with high cholesterol and blood pressure die, on average, a decade sooner than peers without any of these heart disease risk factors, according to a study published on Friday. Many studies have shown that not smoking, eating healthily and exercising cut heart disease rates. Participants provided detailed information about their medical history, lifestyle and smoking habits, and doctors recorded their weight, blood pressure, lung function, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. The study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), found that the men who faced a triple risk threat at the outset were two-to-three times more likely to have died of a heart-related problem than men free of all three risk factors. On average, their lives were shortened by a decade, the study found.