You CAN outrun bad genes with just 4 simple lifestyle tweaks – giving you 5 extra years alive

FOLLOWING a healthy lifestyle could extend your life by five years — even if you’re at genetic risk of an early grave, a first-of-its-kind study shows.

Exercising, eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep and not smoking could offset your risk by up to 62 per cent, researchers found.

It means even people who are around a fifth more likely to die early based on their DNA have the power to reduce their chances, they said.

Dr Zilong Bian, of Zhejiang University in China, said: “Participants with high genetic risk could prolong approximately 5.22 years of life expectancy at age 40 with a favourable lifestyle.”

The "optimal lifestyle combination" for a longer life was found to be "never smoking, regular physical activity, adequate sleep duration, and healthy diet."

Previous research has shown lifestyle factors like getting enough exercise, sleep and healthy food while avoiding alcohol, cigarettes and unhealthy foods, help improve longevity.

It is also well-established that some people are at greater genetic risk of dying early.

The latest study, published in the journal BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, looked at the extent to which lifestyle factors can mitigate genetic risk for the first time.

Researchers followed 353,742 people from the UK Biobank for 13 years on average, during which time 24,239 deaths occurred.

People were grouped into three genetically determined lifespan categories including long (20.1 per cent), intermediate (60.1 per cent), and short (19.8 per cent).

They were also split into three lifestyle score categories: favourable (23.1 per cent), intermediate (55.6 per cent), and unfavourable (21.3 per cent).

Researchers used polygenic risk scores to look at multiple genetic variants to arrive at a person's overall genetic predisposition to a longer or shorter life.

Other scores looked at whether people smoked, drank alcohol, took exercise, their body shape, healthy diet and sleep.

It showed that those with a high genetic risk of a shorter life have a 21 per cent increased risk of early death compared with those with a low genetic risk, regardless of their lifestyle.

Meanwhile, people with unhealthy lifestyles have a 78 per cent increased chance of early death, regardless of their genetic risk.

Having both an unhealthy lifestyle and shorter lifespan genes more than doubled the risk of early death compared with people with luckier genes and healthy lifestyles.

Despite genetic factors, living a healthy lifestyle, including eating a balanced nutritious diet and keeping active, can help us live longer

Matt LambertWorld Cancer Research Fund

The researchers included staff from Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China and the University of Edinburgh.

Matt Lambert, senior health information officer at the World Cancer Research Fund, said: "This new research shows that, despite genetic factors, living a healthy lifestyle, including eating a balanced nutritious diet and keeping active, can help us live longer.

"We also know it can reduce the risk of cancer."

He acknowledges that "making healthy changes can be daunting" but suggests people look at the fund's online healthy living programme, Activ8.