What Queen Elizabeth II Can Teach Us About Longevity

Long lived the Queen.

Queen Elizabeth II has died at age 96. Britain’s longest-reigning monarch lived a remarkably long life—over 30 years longer than other women also born in 1926 in the United Kingdom.

Even for those born today, the average life expectancy for women isn’t much higher than 80 years, both in the U.K. and the U.S.

It’s difficult to talk about the Queen without talking about her longevity. After all, as theWashington Postnoted, at least nine out of 10 humans alive today were born after she became Queen.

It’s equally hard to pinpoint what exactly contributes to a long lifespan. For every study indicating that diet,exercise,and abstaining from smoking and drinkinghelp you live longer, there’s another suggestingthose things don’t matter as much as we thought.

So what’s the answer? Outside of lifestyle habits, what determines why one person lives to be 100 while another dies in their 60s?

Research from the last decade points to three factors: good genes, happy relationships, and of course—wealth.

Study: Genetics Contribute to Living Over 105 Years

Reading about these slightly-beyond-our control factors may sting in the U.S., where life expectancy just dropped for thesecond year in a rowdue to COVID-19. That’s why practicing healthy habits still matters.

Even if we can’t definitely say these modifiable risk factors will lengthen your life, wearing amaskwill protect you from getting COVID-19; gettingenough sleepwill reduce your risk of heart disease; quitting smoking willlower your oddsof lung cancer;staying activewill bolster cognitive functioning.

In addition to all of the advantages afforded to a person in a position of power, healthy habits mattered to Queen Elizabeth, too.

Queen Elizabeth reportedly slepteight and a half hoursper night. Shedidn’t smoke—in fact, she encouraged her husband to quit—but shedrank in moderation. While she wasn’t exactly known for vigorous exercise,biographers recallher commitment to horseback riding and penchant for walking.

If you do nothing else for your health today, get your steps in. And take a corgi if you can.

5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Song M, Fung TT, Hu FB, et al.Association of animal and plant protein intake with all-cause and cause-specific mortality.JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(10):1453–1463. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.4182Lee DH, Rezende L, Joh HK, et al.Long-term leisure-time physical activity intensity and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a prospective cohort of US adults.Circulation. 2022;46(7):523–534. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.058162Hongli Z, Bi X, Zheng N, Li C, Yan K.Joint effect of alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking on all-cause mortality and premature death in China: A cohort study.PLoS ONE.2021;16(1):e0245670. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0245670Garagnani P, Marquis J, Delledonne M, et al.Whole-genome sequencing analysis of semi-supercentenarians.eLife. 2021;10:e57849. doi:10.7554/eLife.57849Finegood ED, Briley DA, Turiano NA, et al.Association of wealth with longevity in US adults at midlife.JAMA Health Forum. 2021;2(7):e211652. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.1652

5 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Song M, Fung TT, Hu FB, et al.Association of animal and plant protein intake with all-cause and cause-specific mortality.JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(10):1453–1463. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.4182Lee DH, Rezende L, Joh HK, et al.Long-term leisure-time physical activity intensity and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a prospective cohort of US adults.Circulation. 2022;46(7):523–534. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.058162Hongli Z, Bi X, Zheng N, Li C, Yan K.Joint effect of alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking on all-cause mortality and premature death in China: A cohort study.PLoS ONE.2021;16(1):e0245670. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0245670Garagnani P, Marquis J, Delledonne M, et al.Whole-genome sequencing analysis of semi-supercentenarians.eLife. 2021;10:e57849. doi:10.7554/eLife.57849Finegood ED, Briley DA, Turiano NA, et al.Association of wealth with longevity in US adults at midlife.JAMA Health Forum. 2021;2(7):e211652. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.1652

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Song M, Fung TT, Hu FB, et al.Association of animal and plant protein intake with all-cause and cause-specific mortality.JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(10):1453–1463. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.4182Lee DH, Rezende L, Joh HK, et al.Long-term leisure-time physical activity intensity and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a prospective cohort of US adults.Circulation. 2022;46(7):523–534. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.058162Hongli Z, Bi X, Zheng N, Li C, Yan K.Joint effect of alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking on all-cause mortality and premature death in China: A cohort study.PLoS ONE.2021;16(1):e0245670. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0245670Garagnani P, Marquis J, Delledonne M, et al.Whole-genome sequencing analysis of semi-supercentenarians.eLife. 2021;10:e57849. doi:10.7554/eLife.57849Finegood ED, Briley DA, Turiano NA, et al.Association of wealth with longevity in US adults at midlife.JAMA Health Forum. 2021;2(7):e211652. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.1652

Song M, Fung TT, Hu FB, et al.Association of animal and plant protein intake with all-cause and cause-specific mortality.JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(10):1453–1463. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.4182

Lee DH, Rezende L, Joh HK, et al.Long-term leisure-time physical activity intensity and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a prospective cohort of US adults.Circulation. 2022;46(7):523–534. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.058162

Hongli Z, Bi X, Zheng N, Li C, Yan K.Joint effect of alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking on all-cause mortality and premature death in China: A cohort study.PLoS ONE.2021;16(1):e0245670. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0245670

Garagnani P, Marquis J, Delledonne M, et al.Whole-genome sequencing analysis of semi-supercentenarians.eLife. 2021;10:e57849. doi:10.7554/eLife.57849

Finegood ED, Briley DA, Turiano NA, et al.Association of wealth with longevity in US adults at midlife.JAMA Health Forum. 2021;2(7):e211652. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.1652

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