Healthy life expectancy: Habits to start in your 20s
Your health expert: Dr Robin Clarke, Medical Director, Bupa UK Insurance
Publish date 05/08/2026
Next review 05/08/2027
Our research shows growing numbers are turning to their search engines for help with common, but preventable, health conditions. You might associate these conditions with older age, but did you know that the key to a healthy life expectancy can start with the habits formed in your 20s?
Avoid becoming ‘skinny fat’
Does your metabolism slow as you age
21 times as many searches since 2025.
Skinny fat look
Searches tripled since 2025.
How to naturally boost metabolism
Searches doubled since 2025.
Small habits, big health wins
In your 20s and 30s, it might feel like you're able to eat whatever you like, without your weight changing. However, your metabolism slows down as you get older. This means you'll naturally start gaining more fat, even if you eat well and look healthy.
To avoid any complacency when it comes to your weight, it’s important to get into the habit of eating well and exercising often, when you’re younger. This means you reduce the risk of becoming 'skinny fat'.
You might have seen the term 'skinny fat' on the internet, where people of a healthy weight have high fat measurements, even if they look a healthy weight and their BMI is in healthy range.
Although 'skinny fat' isn't a term used by health professionals, it can be a good reminder that your lifestyle choices go deeper than your external appearance.
Good habits get harder to change
When your fat levels are high, it puts you at higher risk of developing health conditions associated with obesity. These health conditions include high cholesterol, diabetes or prediabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.
Most of us know that it’s important to eat a balanced, healthy diet, and to get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, each week. The reason it’s so important to remember this is because it really doesn’t take long for your body to be impacted by your dietary choices.
Symptoms of fat associated health conditions, like high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or some cancers may not show until you’re older, meaning it can be harder to shake the harmful habits built in your earlier decades.
Metabolism boosting foods
Eggs
Fish
Cottage cheese
Ginger
Chilli
Turmeric
Meat
Water
Milk
Coffee
Tea
Prioritise sugar swaps
E951 sweetener
Searches tripled since 2025.
How much sugar should I have in a day?
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Sugar swaps
Searches doubled since 2025.
The hidden impact of sugar
You might not realise how much sugar you’re eating until it starts impacting you, physically. Whether your teeth start to need fillings, or weight starts creeping on to you, excess sugar can show itself in various ways.
Further down the line, weight gain can lead to obesity. If left unaddressed, can leave you more vulnerable to a range of health conditions, including heart disease and type two diabetes. These health conditions are preventable, so it’s important to make sure you’re eating and moving well from a younger age.
Taking your sugar intake seriously is one of the easiest ways to look after your health. It’s all about being savvy about the free sugars you’re consuming. Free sugars aren’t naturally occurring within food and drink, and are added when they’re made. They’re found in fruit juices, biscuits, pastries, honey and syrups.
Six easy ways to cut down on sugar:
1. When buying food and drinks, check the label for the item’s sugar content. Opt for sugar-free varieties or those colour coded green or labelled ‘low’.
2. Break the habit of sweet snacks, like biscuits, and prepare some fresh fruit, instead. If you’re a crisp-lover, wholegrain crackers with a small portion of cheese can hit the savoury spot while keeping sugars lower.
3. If you do eat sugary foods, reduce your portion size. For example, if you enjoy a biscuit or cake as part of your tea break, try to eat only half, or less, of your usual amount.
4. Choose natural yoghurt instead of pre-flavoured yoghurts, which often include added sugar.
5. If you enjoy jam or sweet spreads on your toast, low sugar nut spreads can be a healthier alternative.
6. Fruit smoothies or fruit juices can be a good way to add nutrition to your diet, but keep them to one small glass a day to keep your sugar levels within your recommended allowance.
Learn your coping strategies to manage stress
I’m depressed, what do I do?
Seven times as many searches since 2025.
How to deal with depression and anxiety alone
Eleven times as many since 2025.
How to fight depression fatigue
Searches doubled since 2025.
Building skills early helps protect your mental health later
Our research shows that there’s been a steep increase in people turning to Google for help with depression and anxiety symptoms. Whilst there’s no way to ensure you'll never experience low mood at some point in your life, it's always worth learning and practising skills to help you combat challenges in a healthy way. The earlier you learn these skills, the longer they can help you tackle life's tests.
Our research tallies with NHS findings, which back that it's more important than ever to learn these coping skills. The total number of adults in England with common mental health conditions, like anxiety or depression, has risen in the last few decades – with younger adults most affected.
Letting anxiety or stress unfold can lead to mental health conditions, like depression. Research also shows that leaving depression untreated can increase your risk of developing dementia in later life.
Learning to manage stress often involves ensuring you’re looking after your general wellbeing. This means regularly checking in with yourself, to really think about how you’re feeling. If you feel like you’re experiencing symptoms of stress or poor mood, it’s important to acknowledge them and think about whether anything specific has triggered it. The next step is to check in on your six pillars of wellbeing.
Six tips for mood management
1. Move every day
Whether it’s a small walk around the block or a weights session, exercise is great for stress busting. Along with helping to improve your mental wellbeing, regular movement helps burn calories to keep your ward of physical health issues.
2. Review your diet
In times of stress, does your diet stay balanced, or are you eating for comfort? Maintaining a balanced diet helps you to better manage your energy and provide you with nutrients to help you stay physically well.
3. Prioritise sleep
Seven to nine hours of quality sleep each night can help better prepare you for stress in the daytime.
4. Don’t neglect the activities that help you feel relaxed
This means healthy activities, like me time at the gym, or getting stuck into the latest bestseller. Turning to healthy outlets, rather than those that could do you harm in the long run (like smoking or alcohol) can help calm your nervous system. Smoking, alcohol and recreational drugs may make you feel better in the short-term but over time they can actually make you feel worse.
5. Stay connected to friends and family.
If you’re going through a lot, sharing it with someone you trust can help you see things from another perspective and feel less alone.
6. Try out different relaxation techniques
From mindfulness (PDF, 0.4MB) to meditation, these outlets can help you to control your breathing, regulate your nervous system and reduce stress.
Sometimes, reviewing your wellbeing can be enough to kickstart better choices that positively impact on your mood. Other times, this review might highlight that you're already doing what you can. If this happens, it's time to seek further support.
Speaking to a health professional about your mood can identify whether what you’re feeling is the sign of a mental health condition, like depression.
It might feel like a big step to speak to a professional, but it's really important to do it as soon as you feel ready. The sooner you start getting help, the sooner you can access any treatment and coping mechanisms to live a happier life.
Cook from scratch
Homemade fish pie recipe
Five times as many searches since 2025.
How to roast sweet potatoes in the oven
Searches quadrupled since 2025.
Homemade chicken curry recipe
Searches doubled since 2025.
It's promising that the UK's Google search data around home cooked meals is increasing. Learning this skill when you're younger can offer you plenty of benefits that will last your whole life.
Though ready meals and processed food can offer convenience, they may also include preservatives, and unhealthy levels of salts and fats. Along with nutritional value, the ritual of making food is often lost when making ready meals. Making your own food can offer more wellbeing benefits than you'd think.
The ritual of home cooking can offer social, mental and physical benefits, all contributing towards a longer, happier life. This makes it the perfect skill to learn when you’re younger, so you can reap the wellbeing benefits for years.
Benefits of cooking
Whether you're inspired by an old school recipe book or a video on social media, it's easier than ever to try cooking your own meals.
There are plenty of reasons to do it, from giving yourself a new way to unwind at the end of the day, to bonding with friends in a different way.
- Cooking may offer a calming, engaging activity, after a long day. This can help to boost your mental state.
- If you get into the habit of batch cooking, it can save you time in the long run, knowing that you have a stock of nutritious, prepared meals ready to heat.
- Self-esteem: Accomplishing a recipe or a new cooking skill has been linked to greater confidence and independence.
- Once you've mastered a few staple dishes, it can give the perfect opportunity to invite your friends round.
Cooking or sharing a meal with friends can lead to better social connections, and help increase mental wellbeing by reducing social isolation.
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