Addiction doesn’t always take a familiar form. In fact, you could be shortening your life just by watching that Brady Bunch marathon on TV. Here are five addictions and dietary obsessions that you should cut out of your life if you want to survive longer and with better health.
Cigarettes
According to research that incorporates data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), chronic cigarette smoking takes an average of 10 years off your life. For a person who lives to be 70, that’s 13 percent of their existence going up in smoke.
Chocolate
Are you a chocoholic? You may need to cut back on the Hershey bars if you want to extend your life. While small amounts of dark chocolate can be good for you, excessive amounts of chocolate will bring havoc on your blood sugar and increase your risk of Type II Diabetes.
Alcohol
Not only does alcohol cause health problems, substance abuse problems and interpersonal problems, but it also destroys your liver, a very necessary component to longevity. Liver disease can shave years off your life, and liver failure can end it completely. Alcohol addiction can lead to a DUI charge that could have many negative implications on your life. Be sure to contact a DUI lawyer from a firm like Knochel Law Offices PC if you are ever charged.
Netflix
Everyone likes a TV binge now and then, but if you regularly spend between 8-12 hours a day in a seated position, you’re significantly increasing your risk for strokes, heart attacks and heart disease. This is because sitting down for extended periods of time slows your metabolism, and in turn, this raises cholesterol, increases blood pressure and stops the production of fat-burning enzymes.
Drugs
It may sound obvious, but many people underestimate the toll that drugs take on the human body. A single line of cocaine will shave five hours off your life, and meth will take 11. If you use heroin, you might as well jump off a bridge since an average hit takes 22 hours every time, resulting in 44 years lost in total. That’s half the average lifespan!
These are just five addictions that will send you to an early grave. As you can see, they aren’t all mind-altering substances. Some of them are as innocuous as the candy bars you see in the checkout line. If you’re serious about increasing your lifespan, it’s important to watch out for all dangers.
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