If you want to live a longer, happier life, you’re not alone. Life extension is all the rage, especially in Silicon Valley. Ice baths. Supplements. Red light therapy. Ultrasound treatments.

Then there are the anti-aging startups; notable names like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google co-founder Larry Page, and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel have invested significant sums.

Taking your cues from leaders in the startup world makes sense (who doesn’t appreciate the distinction between one- and two-way door decisions), but maybe not in this case. For example, while immersing yourself in cold water will certainly perk you up, there’s currently no scientific evidence indicating correlation — much less causation — between ice baths and longevity.

But there is plenty of evidence that embracing the following habits can help you live a longer, healthier life. For one thing, being able to pass any of these quick tests — the pushup test, walking test, sitting-rising test, and grip strength test — correlates with a lower risk of early death.

And then there’s a study recently presented at the Nutrition 2023 conference that tracked the lifestyles of over 700,000 people, adding eight healthy habits at age 40 could add over 20 years to your lifespan.

Adopt those same habits at age 60 and you could still add as many as 18 years to your life.

As lead study author Xuan-Mai Nguyen says, “There’s a 20-year period in which you can make these changes, whether you do it gradually or all at once. [Even] if you start off with chronic diseases, making changes does still help.”

Want to live a longer, healthier life? Regardless of your age — or where you’re starting from in terms of overall health — start making changes that ensure you can pass the following eight tests, ranked in order of contribution to longevity.

1. You exercise.

Compared with those who do not exercise, people who do — whether light, moderate, or vigorous — had a 46 percent decrease in the risk of death from any cause.

According to the researchers, the goal is 7.5 metabolic equivalent exercise hours, a fancy way of saying, for example, that walking up a flight of stairs counts as four minutes, even though it might only take you 15 seconds.

If that’s too complicated for you (it is for me), other research determined the most favorable running regimen for reducing cardiovascular mortality was six miles per week, broken down into three running days per week.

What type of exercise you do matters less than regularly exercising. The key is to find something you like to do, and stick with it.

2. You aren’t addicted to opioids.

If only because it reduces your risk of early death by 38 percent. Makes sense.

But this also raises an interesting point: exercise actually ranks ahead of opioid addiction on the longevity factor scale.

Yep: exercise matters.

3. You don’t use tobacco.

Keep in mind the researchers studied only people who had never used tobacco; in their case, the risk of dying early dropped by 29 percent.

But according to the CDC, quitting smoking reduces your risk of death and can add up to 10 years to your life expectancy.

4. You manage stress.

Reducing the level of stress you feel reduces the risk of early death by 22 percent.

Granted, finding ways to feel less stressed is hard. So is defining “less stressed.” According to Michael Roizen in the book The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow, the goal is to “sleep well and feel at ease in your own skin.”

Getting enough sleep is a great start, since at least one study found that lack of sleep correlates with tension, anxiety, and lower overall mood. Sleep: good for you now, good for you later.

As for stress? Here are three science-backed ways to better deal with stress.

5. You eat a plant-based diet.

While you don’t have to become a vegetarian or vegan, you do probably need to eat more vegetables. (I definitely do.) The study found that people who adopt something along the lines of a Mediterranean diet — one long on lean meats, vegetables, and whole grains — reduced their risk of dying early by 21 percent.

When in doubt, add a serving of vegetables or fruit to your meal. (Spinach is my go-to; no matter what else we’re having, I try to toss a handful of leaves on the plate.)

6. You avoid binge drinking.

While your perceived mileage may vary, researchers define “binge drinking” as having more than four alcoholic beverages in a day.

Avoid that, and your risk of dying early goes down by 19 percent.

7. You get a good night’s sleep.

Yes, we’re back to sleep: According to the study, people who sleep between seven and nine hours a night with no long periods of wakefulness reduce their rate of death from any cause by 18 percent.

If that’s not reason enough, studies show getting only six hours of sleep makes any task that requires focus, deep thinking, or problem-solving a lot harder; in fact, where attention and reaction time are concerned, sleeping only six hours is like drinking a couple of beers — and sleeping only four hours is like drinking five beers.

Other studies show that sleep deprivation makes completing any activity that requires multiple steps — in short, any meaningful activity — much more difficult.

Which makes sleep not just a lifespan booster, but also a competitive advantage.

8. You have positive social relationships.

The study found that having a few really good friends reduces your risk of dying by 5 percent.

But that might be understating the impact. The 2005 Australian Longitudinal Study of Aging found that close relationships with children and other relatives had very little impact on how long you live, but people with the most friends tended to outlive those with the fewest by 22 percent.

Better yet, a clinical review of nearly 150 studies found that people with strong social ties had a 50 percent better chance of survival, regardless of age, sex, health status, and cause of death, than those with weaker ties. According to the researchers, the health risk of having few friends was similar to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and more dangerous than being obese or not exercising in terms of decreasing your lifespan.

Does that mean you need to have tons of friends? Nope: you “just” need two or three really, really good friends — and then, of course, plenty of people who aren’t necessarily friends but are fun to be around, or result in a mutually beneficial relationship, or share common interests.

Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and one of the wealthiest people in the world, has attributed a significant part of his success to a simple yet powerful choice: investing in oneself. Here’s what he shared with Good Morning America years back:

Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents.

As entrepreneurs and business leaders, we often focus on external opportunities and investments, but Buffett’s timeless advice reminds us that the most critical investment lies within ourselves.

Following Buffett’s advice can lead to a lot of great things, like knowledge attainment in your specific field, personal and professional growth, leadership skills, and ultimately whatever will help you get better at your trade and pave the way to your success.

Here are a few useful and practical ways you can heed Buffett’s advice starting today:

1. Invest in continuous learning

Buffett’s philosophy revolves around the idea that knowledge is the ultimate asset. He famously spends a considerable part of his day reading, learning, and staying informed about various industries and markets. You can apply this principle to your business by embracing continuous learning and staying updated on industry trends. Investing time in learning equips you to make more informed decisions, spot new opportunities, and adapt to a rapidly changing business landscape.

2. Invest in your self-improvement

Investing in yourself is not limited to gaining knowledge; it also involves building self-confidence and continuously improving your skills. As entrepreneurs, our journey is often filled with challenges, risks, and uncertainty. By investing in our personal growth, we develop the self-confidence, boldness, and resilience to face these obstacles head-on and overcome them when we experience setbacks.

3. Invest in knowing your strengths

In business, identifying and leveraging your strengths is critical because understanding your unique capabilities can help you focus on areas where you excel. There’s also a flip side to this: You must have the self-awareness to know what tasks to take on and what tasks that fall outside your expertise to delegate to others who can handle them better, thus optimizing your time and efforts.

4. Invest in a supportive network

Surrounding yourself with the right people is crucial for your success. Buffett is big on emphasizing the value of seeking out mentors, partners, and friends who inspire and challenge you. This means building a network of like-minded peers and colleagues, industry experts, and experienced mentors who can offer valuable insights and guidance. A supportive network can provide a fresh perspective, innovative ideas, and collaborative opportunities that drive your business forward.

5. Invest in doing work that you love

The biggest lesson on improving yourself stands the test of time and is especially apropos in the age of quiet quitting: Do what you love. Buffett once said:

I get to work in a job that I love, but I have always worked at a job that I loved. I loved it just as much when I thought it was a big deal to make $1,000. I urge you to work in jobs that you love. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don’t like because you think it will look good on your résumé.

Doing what you love means putting an end to working in dead-end jobs with little pay and no purpose that gets you up in the morning. While Buffett’s comment, you may object, is easy to remark when you’re a billionaire many times over, quite truthfully, Buffett was already doing what he loves long before he became successful.

Clearly words matter, but if you’re a leader, research shows — especially if you hope to increase performance, build more effective teams, forge better relationships, and gain buy-in — some words matter more than others.

Here we go.

“Could”

You describe a problem during a meeting. “What should we do?” you ask your team.

The first thing you should do (h/t to Daniel Pink) is subsitute “could” for “should.” “Should” typically limits possibilities, implying a finite set of choices. In fact, a study published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes found that “should” usually results in coming up with just two choices, limiting you to an either/or decision.

Unfortunately, most leaders tend to use “should” when they ask for input or feedback. If you’ve given the issue some thought, sifted through possibilities, and come up with what you feel are the two best options, you naturally present the solution as an either/or.

This is a problem, because as a Harvard study published in Academy of Management Journal found, using “could” instead of “should” generates a greater number of potential, and better, solutions.

Why? “Should” feels like something you have to do. “Could” opens things up. “Could” implies you haven’t narrowed the solution set to a few choices, implying unlimited possibilities.

“Could” feels like something you get to do.

As the researchers write:

Considering what one could do shifts people from analyzing and weighing what they assume to be fixed and mutually exclusive alternatives to generating options that might reconcile underlying imperatives. Having a could mindset helps individuals engage in divergent thinking.

[And] in group contexts, we find that adopting a could mindset encouraged individuals to spend more time discussing these dilemmas and generating more ideas.

The next time you encounter a problem, don’t think, “What should I do?” And definitely don’t say, “What should we do?”

Just state the problem — without in any way implying you have the answer — and ask, “What could we do?”

You’ll get much better input.

“Because”

If you need something, asking politely works. (As Mark Cuban says, being nice is one of the most underrated skills in business.)

But providing a reason is even more effective.

As described in Robert Cialdini’s book Influence, researchers asked people to try to butt in line to use a copier, using one of three phrases:

Phrase 1: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”

The result? 60 percent of the people standing in line let the individual in ahead of them. (Most people like to be nice, or, at the very least, like to avoid confrontation.)

Phrase 2: “I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I am in a rush?”

The result? 94 percent of the people standing in line let the individual in ahead of them. (Also makes sense; nearly everyone tries to be helpful.)

Phrase 3: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make copies?” The result? 93 percent of the people standing in line let the individual go ahead of them.

Which makes no sense. Everyone in line needs to make copies–otherwise they wouldn’t be in line. “I have to make copies” isn’t a reason to jump ahead. Yet almost everyone still let that person cut the line.

Why? As Cialdini writes, “A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.”

Whenever you want the people you lead to do something — to do anything — always include the word “because.” But don’t stop there. Make sure your “because” is clear, logical, and compelling.

Then people will want to work with you, and not just for you.

“Together”

Obviously teams work together. (Or should.) Yet stating the obvious — by using the word “together” — can cause people to work harder, longer, and more effectively.

A study published in Journal of Experimental Social Psychology placed participants in two groups. One worked on a task on their own. The other was told they would work on the task “together” and could ask for a tip from a team member.

When the results were tallied, the people who heard “together”:

• worked almost 50 percent longer,
• solved more problems correctly,
• found it easier to stick with the task, and
• said the task was more “interesting,” and were more likely to perform that task again

Even though they didn’t actually work together.

As the researchers write:

Social cues that signal an invitation to work with others can fuel intrinsic motivation even when people work alone.

The results suggest that cues of working together can inspire intrinsic motivation, turning work into play.

Not sure about the whole “play” thing, but feeling like you’re a part of a team — feeling like you’re a part of something bigger than yourself — makes a huge difference.

Say you’re assigning people to a team. Don’t just say they’re a member of the team. Don’t just say what you want them to accomplish. Say they’ll work on the project together. Say they’ll achieve the outcome together.

Science says they’ll likely work harder, longer, and better.

And will also enjoy it more.