Top tips for longevity hacks

Science can save your life—and we’re not just talking about new technology and health care.

In addition to regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle, science can increase your life expectancy in unexpected ways.

Newsweek spoke to mathematician Hannah Fry and comedian Dara Ó Briain—the hosts of the podcast Strange cases— to get their top science tips for a long, healthy life.

1. Find a job you enjoy

In fact, you can get bored (for a long time.)

Ó Briain said: “I thought you would die of joy, like in a car. Newsweek. “But it turns out that if you have a real, boring job, your life expectancy goes down.”

A 2010 study from the University of London analyzed data from 7,524 civil servants in London during 1980, between the ages of 35 and 55. . Almost 30 years later, the researchers assessed how many of this original group had died, excluding those who had had heart disease at the start of the study.

What they found was that those who were particularly bored in their jobs were more likely to die during follow-up.

“For the public servants who really didn’t enjoy their jobs very much, there was a clear impact on their lives,” Fry said. Newsweek.

2. Listen to your body, in unexpected ways

Your body can tell when a storm is coming, without even looking at the weather.

“If you happen to be in a place where your hair is starting to stand on end, then you know lightning is about to strike,” Fry said.

Lightning occurs when different particles on the ground and in the atmosphere come together during a thunderstorm. Negative charges build up in storm clouds, driving electrons to the ground (and people) below. As a result, your hair strands are slightly tangled, tangled and stand up.

“All you need to do is get in your car quickly,” Fry said.

But how will your car protect you from the storm?

Cars are made of metal, which is much better electricity than your body. Therefore, when lightning strikes, it acts as a protective cage—known as a Faraday Cage. Lightning rolls out of the car and into the ground, instead of traveling with your body!

Obviously there are some exceptions. Cars with convertible roofs do not offer this protection, nor do cars with fiberglass bodies, which do not conduct electricity.

“What you also don’t want to do is have a bad time to be outside the car when lightning strikes,” Fry said. “So, when in doubt, just get off.”

3. Learn how to store leftovers

Rice is one of the most consumed foods in the world. However, it can also be a major source of food poisoning.

“Rice is worse than most foods in terms of how it can go bad,” said Ó Briain. “I thought you were supposed to let it cool before you put it in the fridge, but no. You have to pop it in the fridge as soon as possible.”

Uncooked rice often contains spores of bacteria called Bacillus cereus, bacteria that can cause life-threatening diseases. The spores of this bacterium are dormant when you start cooking rice, but they cannot be heated so they can survive many cooking methods. If the rice is not cooled quickly—that is, it hits the refrigerator—these germs can grow quickly and produce dangerous toxins that can cause stomach ailments.

While most cases are self-inflicted, this toxin can be fatal, especially for the most vulnerable.

These are just a few examples of Fry and Ó Briain’s amazing questions in the latest season Strange casesa podcast that takes your remote songs and solves them with the power of science. New episodes will be broadcast weekly on BBC Radio 4 from 5 October, and the full series can be found on BBC Sounds, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Do you have any advice on science fiction that Newsweek should cover? Have a question about US citizens? Let us know at science@newsweek.com.

References

Britton, A., & Shipley, MJ (2010). Bored to death? International Journal of Epidemiology, 39(2), 370—371. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyp404