Limit your intake of coffee and do moderate exercise

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Coffee and tea are dehydrating, so you should limit your intake andreplace each cup one-for-one with water. "A myth," replies Dr ChrisSmith of BBC radio series The Naked Scientists. "These drinks don'tdehydrate you unless they're very strong. An average coffeehydrates you. I drink hardly anything but tea and coffee, so mybladder ought to be like a raisin. Even alcohol has to be more than10 per cent alcohol by volume to affect your fluid levelsadversely. There are limits - pregnant women should seek advice -but we've drunk tea and coffee for decades without all keelingover."
Take 30 minutes' moderate exercise, three times a week
This is a cornerstone of official health advice - with one smallhitch. "The figure is meaningless," says Matt Roberts, fitnesstrainer to Sting and Naomi Campbell. "It assumes people know what'moderate' exercise is. But to most of us, it means housework orwalking the kids to school, and that's not enough. On a scale, ifone is being asleep and 10 is keeling over exhausted, you need tobe hitting a nine by running, training or swimming, until you can'tdo much more, at least three times a week."
Men should drink no more than 3 or 4 units of alcohol a day (2 to 3units for women)
Government guidelines on alcohol are pitched to keep us happy aswell as healthy. But how credible are they? "These numbers are easyto disprove," says Mike Shallcross of Men's Health, "but I feel forthe guys who come up with them - they admit they're not veryaccurate, but say an inaccurate figure is better than none." Thetruth, says Shallcross, is that there is no precise guide. "Thesenumbers err towards caution. But use common sense. If you feel fitand healthy, you probably have your alcohol intake about right."
Eat five portions of fruit and veg a day
The wisdom of this rule has been enshrined by both the NHS, whichhas just launched a healthy-eating drive for low-income families,and M&S, which slathers such details on its packaging. So itmust be backed by lots of research? "Actually, different countriessuggest different quotas," says Dr Sarah Brewer, author of theNatural Health Guru guides. "It's only five portions here becauseso many people in Britain eat none at all." The Japanese are toldto eat 17 portions of fruit and veg a day. A recent HarvardUniversity report suggested you're 30 per cent less likely to havea heart attack if you eat eight portions a day. So how much shouldwe eat? "Studies show green vegetables are better against heartdisease," says Dr Brewer. "So maybe more helpful advice would be,'Eat more than five portions of vegetables, then have some fruit,too.'?"
Sleep eight hours a night
To function well, we all need that gold standard of a good night'ssleep, the Full Eight Hours. Or do we? "That's like saying allwomen need size eight dresses," says Professor Jim Horne, of theSleep Research Centre at Loughborough University. "That figure isactually dangerous - people who're fine on six or seven hours aretold it's not enough, so you create a million more insomniacsseeking treatment." So what's the optimum amount? "If you're nottired, you're getting enough."
Women need no more than 1,940 calories a day (2,550 for men)
Calorie counts, health's original magic numbers, are the tightropewe walk towards shapelier bodies. But focusing on them ispotentially hazardous, says Dr Shrilla Banerjee, consultantcardiologist at University College Hospital. "We're seeing a globalepidemic of heart disease," she says, "so there's a drive to givepeople simple target figures. But cutting down on calorific foodisn't enough. The aim should be to live healthier lives all round."
Get 15 minutes' sunlight a day
Your body needs exposure to the sun to create vitamin D - but the15-minute figure commits a multitude of sins, says Zest's AlisonPylkkänen. "It really depends who you are, how old, dark orfair skin, and so on." A truer figure would also depend on our useof sunblock. "We learnt relatively recently that sunlight causesskin cancer and we've over-corrected," says Pylkkänen. "While15 minutes might give us the bare minimum of vitamin D, you getnone if you're covered in SPF50."
Take 20,000 steps a day
Remember the craze for wearing a pedometer a few years ago? Howuseful is it, health-wise, to know that you're clocking up 20,000steps a day? "Not very," says Dr Chris Beedie, triathlete anddevelopment director for Virgin Active health clubs. "It's thelevel of activity, not number of steps, that's relevant. So go alittle harder at whatever you're doing and get out of breath alittle bit more."