Life insurance is all about calculating risk. When you take out a policy, you and your insurance company are both hoping that you'll never have to make a claim. Insurance companies are experts at assessing risk, and calculating how likely it is that a certain type of person will die at any given age.

People are classed in categories, such as low-risk and high-risk-depending on their age, health and lifestyle, and those high-risk people pay much higher insurance premiums, because they're more likely to die sooner rather than later. How can you make sure you're in the low-risk category? Try following one or more of these five suggestions.

Become a Vegetarian

Some insurance companies are beginning to include diet in their risk assessment when they calculate premiums. They know that a meatless diet is much healthier than one that includes large amounts of animal protein. No animal protein and much less saturated fat in the diet means vegetarians have a 40% lower risk of developing some cancers, and a 30% lower risk of developing heart disease.

Not all insurance companies take vegetarianism into account when calculating premiums, but if you're a vegetarian your arteries are going to be in better shape, you may have lower blood pressure and cholesterol, so those factors can help you get lower premiums with some providers.

Lose Weight

Obesity increases the risk of cancer, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, and on average, obesity reduces life expectancy by nine years. Not surprisingly, insurance companies view obesity as a risk factor, and the higher your body max index, the higher your insurance premiums.

If you're overweight or obese, you're paying a much higher premium than you need to and, you're reducing your life expectancy as well. Losing weight will cut your insurance premiums and might just give you a new lease of life too.

Women: Get Covered Before Getting Pregnant

Insurance companies view pregnancy as a high-risk condition, due to illnesses that may affect pregnant women. For example, previously healthy women may develop diabetes or hypertension during pregnancy, literally without warning. If you are pregnant when you apply for life cover, you can expect much higher premium quotes than you'd get either before or after pregnancy. You'll typically pay at least 50% more for premiums if you apply while pregnant. To keep your premiums low, buy life cover before getting pregnant.

Give Up Extreme Sports

Also on the long list of things that insurance companies view as risky are extreme sports such as sky-diving, mountain-climbing and bungee-jumping. If these are your favorite sports, you're going to pay much more for your life cover.

However, even if you're not an extreme sports lover, it might pay to check your premium and find out how your favorite sports are classified. Some insurance companies put much safer sports such as horse-riding in the high-risk category, so you're better off finding an insurer with more favourable sporting classifications.

Give Up Smoking

The new emphasis on obesity doesn't make the risks of smoking any less. Insurance companies still charge smokers up to twice as much for their insurance premiums as they do non-smokers. If you're a smoker, kicking the habit will save more on your insurance than any other lifestyle change.