It is natural that many of us are keen to return to our pre-pandemic lives but a research initiative1 to uncover the key to living a long, healthy life by studying the places where people live the longest has revealed a series of surprising insights.
People have been spending countless amounts of time, energy, money, and willpower trying to improve their health. By working alongside the Institute for the Future (IFTF), research suggests that a “healthy lifestyle” is about maintaining strong family and community relationships, a sense of purpose and belonging, and a slower pace of life, in which exercise occurs organically throughout the day, stress is addressed with unhurried contemplation, and food is not consumed frantically between appointments.1
Even before COVID-19 people were not living a lifestyle which can lead to a long, healthy life. Stress and loneliness were endemic to life in many countries, and inequality was reaching record highs in wealthy countries.2,3 Now is the time where we should look to implement change.