Stop smoking; exercise at least 30 minutes a day; limit alcohol to one (for women) or two (for men) drinks a day; eat five servings each of fruits and vegetables daily.

In fact, take two. Eating fruit and vegetables every day could add years to your life.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS PA—Follow this diet, do that exercise, eat this vegetable…sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all the options we have for staying healthy. Now there’s evidence that easy-to-understand, tried-and-true lifestyle choices have a huge impact on your health. A huge new British study underscores the results of an American study published last year: Abstain from smoking, exercise regularly, drink alcohol minimally, and eat a healthful diet filled with fruits and veggies, you’ll slash your risk of suffering a stroke in half. And that’s just the beginning.

THE DETAILS: Researchers from the University of East Anglia in Britain surveyed more than 20,000 men and women, ages 40 to 79, who were first surveyed in the early 1990s as part of the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer. For this study, every participant scored 1 point for each of 4 healthful behaviors—1) currently nonsmoking, 2) physically active, 3) moderate drinking (no more than two alcoholic drinks per day, on average) and 4) eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. A combination of all 4 healthful behaviors predicted more than a twofold difference in the incidence of stroke in both the men and the women, compared to people who didn’t follow any of them.

WHAT IT MEANS: Daily, healthy behavior adds up to keep you safe—and you don’t have to be an obsessed health nut to benefit. The British study authors concede that the 4 healthful behaviors they tracked, as defined for this study, were “relatively modest and…achievable.” (To be considered active, for example, study participants only needed to avoid being utterly sedentary.) In a large Harvard study published last year that used more stringent parameters (like exercising at moderate intensity for 30 minutes a day), participants were 69 percent less likely to have a stroke than participants who didn’t lead as healthful a lifestyle—meaning that their stroke risk was cut more than in half. The beauty part: These same healthful behaviors were associated with an 80 percent reduction in risk of heart disease and a 90 percent lower risk of diabetes.

Larry B. Goldstein, M.D., director of the Duke Stroke Center in Durham, NC, suggests following these recommendations to cut your risk of stroke—and more—in half: