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Living a healthy lifestyle in middle age may do more than help you live longer. New research suggests it could also increase the chances that those extra years will be healthier and happier.

Researchers at the University of Helsinki followed nearly 2,700 Finnish men for more than 50 years, beginning when the participants were healthy and an average of 42 years old. The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, examined whether cardiovascular health in middle age was associated with longevity and quality of life decades later.

The results suggest a striking connection.

Researchers focused on five cardiovascular risk factors: smoking, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose. Men who had favorable readings in all five areas tended to live longer.

Among participants with favorable results for all five factors, 42% lived to at least age 90. Among men with poor results for all five, just 7% reached 90.

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Living longer — and living better

Longevity was only part of the study.

In 2007, when surviving participants were an average of 79 years old, researchers evaluated their functional ability, quality of life, happiness, and psychological well-being. They also assessed whether the men had become frail.

The differences were substantial.

Only 2% of the men who had favorable results for all five cardiovascular factors in middle age were classified as frail in old age. Among those who had poor results for all five factors, 25% were frail. The healthier group also reported greater happiness and psychological well-being.

That finding addresses an important question about longevity: Is simply adding years to life worthwhile if those additional years are marked by poor health and disability?

The researchers say their findings suggest healthy habits may help people achieve both a longer lifespan and a longer healthspan — the portion of life spent in relatively good health and with the ability to function independently.

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Five numbers worth watching

One potentially encouraging aspect of the findings is that the risk factors researchers tracked aren’t exotic or difficult to measure.

They are:

• Smoking status
• Body mass index (BMI)
• Blood pressure
• Cholesterol
• Blood glucose

All are routinely evaluated during medical checkups, and most can be influenced through lifestyle changes, medication, or a combination of the two.

Professor Emeritus Timo Strandberg of the University of Helsinki and HUS Helsinki University Hospital, who led the study, said the findings provide additional motivation to address cardiovascular risks before serious health problems develop.

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Why middle age matters

The study adds to growing evidence that health decisions made decades before retirement can influence what life looks like after retirement.

Another 2026 study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found that people with greater cardiorespiratory fitness in middle age tended to live longer and developed major chronic illnesses later than people with lower fitness levels.

The Helsinki research is especially notable because of its unusually long follow-up period. Participants were tracked from their early 40s through old age, and in many cases, until death.

There are limitations. The study involved Finnish men from a relatively homogeneous socioeconomic group, so the findings cannot automatically be assumed to apply equally to women or more diverse populations. And as an observational study, it demonstrates associations rather than proving that improving any one risk factor will cause someone to live longer or be happier.

The message is fairly straightforward: paying attention to basic cardiovascular health in middle age may have benefits that aren’t apparent for decades.

Keeping blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and weight under control — and avoiding smoking — could increase the odds not simply of reaching an advanced age, but of being healthier and happier when you get there.