Daily tipple and gardening boost longevity

Melbourne, Dec 11 (ANI): Forget treadmills, long walks and calorie-restricted diets, a daily tipple and gardening are the keys to a long and healthy life, reveals an Australian research.

In the major study, researchers tracked 3000 people for two decades, and gave the best picture yet of how to ward off dementia and death in old age.

And the two best protectors are painless, according to lead researcher Professor Leon Simons of the University of New South Wales.

"We found one alcoholic drink per day could cut the risk of dementia by 34 per cent. So, a drink a day can keep dementia away," the Courier Mail quoted the expert, as saying.

Fellow researcher Professor John McCallum of Victoria University in Melbourne said that pottering in the garden is very protective as it cuts the risk of dementia by 36 per cent.

"Daily gardening is a complex variable, and we can't really isolate the 'active ingredient'. It's a combination of being physically active, eating the good fresh food that they grow, and having a sense of future and purpose," he said. (ANI)