OK. Now I think I understand where you're coming from.

Yes. It is universally agreed that healthy living makes for a healthy life...... statistically. Large numbers of people engaged in certain activates could promote positive results [longevity] for some [small] percentage of the participants. Does it give anyone control over anything?

Well... I am sure that whatever percentage of older Americans that feel well.... will inform you it's because.......... they work-out, or walk daily, or eat oatmeal, or eat beef, or drink small amounts of hard liquor, or have lots of sex, or sleep with a certain mattress, or a certain pillow, or only wear natural fabrics, or practice ballroom dancing, or eat local honey............. you get the idea. Those are just a few of the things that (other) older people have confided to me as their means to a longer life.

My doctor often points to... what does and doesn't have a scientific link. And then points out that not being studied doesn't automatically mean that those who find benefits are mistaken.

I returned to cycling after I retired.... and was having foot problems. Sitting around the house, smoking cigarettes, getting fat, and less mobile by the day. I bought a used bicycle with the idea of at lease getting a little fresh air. [That paragraph keeps me on topic... this IS how I got here].

Quitting cigarettes (using a hypnotist) and becoming a cyclists did change my life. But I am an example of bad behaviors stopped and then replaced with more positive ones. I myself... have not noticed positive results from other less major lifestyle changes. But maybe... that is just me.