Professional tips for living well and avoiding bad health habits

Nine doctors who specialize in anti-aging were asked to rank the impact of dozens of lifestyle habits — past and present — on future health, their answers were both intriguing and amazing.

Their fixes are surprising,  going beyond the conventional wisdom of "eat more vegetables" and "get more exercise" to emphasize the pleasurable.

• Good company, relaxation, vacations and fun are as important for a healthy future as that whole-grain bread you had at breakfast this morning or the walk you plan to take with your best friend this afternoon.

Among current bad health habits, eight out of nine doctors rate these three as having the potential to cause significant harm:

• Smoking
• Chronic anger, stress or worry
• Feeling out of control at home or in your relationships

Certainly smoking is the biggest killer. Tobacco smoke makes risk for lung cancer and heart attack skyrocket, but that's only the beginning. Smoking is the most destructive habit when it comes to lung health because it triggers conditions like emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], where you're literally suffocating.

What was the next tier of unhealthy habits? More than half the doctors identified the following as having the greatest chances of causing you significant health harm in the future:

• Not having a regular exercise routine
• Breathing secondhand smoke regularly
• Drinking to excess (that is, until it's unsafe to drive) on a weekly basis
• Needing sleeping pills in order to fall asleep most nights
• Gulping large quantities of sugary soda every day

• Being stuck in an unhappy relationship — with your spouse or with your own body — got top rankings, too. Experts said that ignoring warning signs and symptoms of potential health problems could be as damaging as living with a spouse or partner with whom you fight or maintain an icy silence.
• Food set off alarms, too. All of the experts agreed that noshing regularly on high-calorie, high-fat, high-salt, fast-food meals could cause moderate to significant health effects. And eight out of nine saw similar risks for those who skimped on veggies or rarely drank plain old water — as well as those who filled up on meat, pastries, candy or ice cream. Dieters, beware: Gaining and losing the same 10 to 20 pounds over and over again was deemed dangerous by most. So was skipping breakfast.
• What happens after meals mattered, too. Do you brush and floss? Eight out of nine said that neglecting dental health could be the cause of moderate to significant harm — an opinion corroborated by research linking gum disease with more chronic inflammation and a higher risk for diabetes, heart disease and even stroke.
• Why did the experts come down harder on current bad habits than on health sins from your past? Was a current soda habit really worse than getting drunk in your twenties? Turns out that the answer is usually yes.
• We all have a health reservoir called functional reserve — it's the extra capacity that helps protect us against illness, helps us recover when we get sick and maintains body functions. As we get older, this reserve naturally lowers.

The experts also weighed in on 21st-century vices.

• Eight out of nine thought too much debt, too much coffee and too much intense, competitive driving could have moderate to significant health effects.
• Six warned that skipping vacations isn't a good thing.
• Seven were concerned that being a workaholic could have health-damaging consequences.

Although some health problems are hereditary, many are the direct results of an unhealthy lifestyle. Avoid the bad habits mentioned here, and focus on bettering yourself with a healthy lifestyle.