One of the most inevitable things
in life is the fact that we must all grow old. However, it is an open secret
that some people age better than others. We often come across individuals in
their sixties and seventies who appear to have found a way to defy or slow down
the ageing process. This is often a result of specific and disciplined
lifestyle choices which you can also adopt today.
The following tips from the
Research and Development Unit of Yudala, Nigeria’s fastest growing e-commerce
outfit, will help you age better.
1.Exercise: Exercise
has always been seen as one of the means to promote a healthy lifestyle. But
that is not all. Regular exercise has also been identified as one of the major
reasons why some people not only live longer but also thrive in later life.
Indeed, you can slow down the aging process with as little as 15 minutes a day
of moderate physical activity. According to research from Harvard Health, while
you can't completely stop aging, staying active can slow down the destructive
processes that lead to disease and immobility, which diminish your quality of
life. In other words, regular exercise may be able to offset disease-causing
cellular damage and slow the ageing process.
2.Keep
the brain active: In addition to physical activity, keeping your
brain active can go a long way to slow down mental decline often associated
with ageing. Various studies show that engaging in mentally-stimulating
activities on a regular basis can slow or even reverse the age-related mental
deterioration. Examples of some simple mentally engaging activities you can try
your hands are include eating your food with the other hand, listening to an
unfamiliar kind of music, learning to play a new musical instrument, sport,
skill or dance pattern; researching an unfamiliar subject, playing the
crossword puzzle in a newspaper, adding new words to your vocabulary, counting
backwards from one million, etc. The interesting bit is that it is never too
late to start these activities as older adults and septuagenarians too have
been known to show some remarkable improvements upon adoption of these habits.
3.Get
some sunshine: Due to upgrades in social status, many adults often
go for days on end without soaking up some sunshine. It is common these days
for many to move from air-conditioned homes into air-conditioned vehicles and to
air-conditioned offices, with the cycle repeated at close of work for weeks.
Despite the comfort such a lifestyle seemingly holds, there are detrimental
effects which worsen the process of ageing. Apart from helping maintain the
immune system, Vitamin D regulates cellular growth, promotes calcium absorption
and helps the body fight cancer, diabetes and bone diseases – ailments that
show up more often as one gets older. While the medically recommended daily
dose of Vitamin D can be admittedly sourced from a number of foods including
eggs and fatty fish, among others; spending a few minutes in the sun especially
in the hours before 10am can do a lot of good.
According to the World Health
Organization, getting anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes of sunlight on your arms,
hands, and face two to three times a week is enough to enjoy the vitamin
D-boosting benefits of sun. Adding a little sunshine to your life by getting
outside more can relieve anxiety and reduce depression, thereby helping you
cope better with ageing.
4.Watch
your diet (and the quantity): Diet and nutrition are important
factors which determine how well your body ages. Latest studies indicate that a
low-glycemic diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean
protein is best suited to this purpose. Furthermore, research from Harvard
Medical School identify the Mediterranean diet: a modern nutritional
recommendation based on the dietary patterns of Greece, Southern Italy, France
and Spain in the 1940s and 1950s as a good choice. The principal aspects of
this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes,
unrefined cereals, fruits, and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish,
moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt), moderate
wine consumption, low consumption of non-fish meat products and cutting back on
salt. In addition to helping the body age better, research indicates that
Omega-3 fatty acids-rich foods including flaxseed oil, fish oil, chia seeds,
walnuts, fish roe (eggs), fatty fish, seafood, soybeans, and spinach produce
essential oils which makes the skin look younger.
Closely related to the foregoing,
it is important to cut down on overeating as this has been linked to various
ailments which ultimately lead to a shorter life span.
5.Build
and maintain social relationships: Social relationships have a
direct link to helping individuals live and age better. Several studies have
established that people who build and maintain stronger personal relationships
live longer than those with poor relationships. According to a study published
in a medical journal PLos Medicine,
persons with strong social ties were shown to have a 50 percent higher chance
of living longer than those with poor or insufficient relationships. In
addition, the Harvard Ageing Study indicates that close relationships have a
greater impact on quality of life than money, fame, Intelligence Quotient or
social class. The study also shows that relationships have the capacity to
delay mental and physical decline in addition to being strong predictors of
long and happy lives.
One more reason for you to start
working on your social relationships today: individuals with poor relationships
often suffer from chronic health conditions such as depression, insomnia,
dementia, cardiovascular disease and diminished immune response, among others.
6.Get
enough sleep: The benefits of proper, restful sleep cannot be
over-emphasized. Research shows that during sleep, your body releases a growth
hormone that helps restore collagen and elastin, the essential building blocks
of young, healthy skin. Owing to the daily hassles of making ends meet in our
increasingly fast-paced society, many often treat sleep as a luxury. If you
fall into this category, then you are robbing your body of a very important
regenerative factor which helps slow down the wear and tear associated with
ageing. Apart from adversely affecting the brain’s functions and speeding up
the ageing process, studies show that insufficient sleep also predisposes you
to a higher risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes. To enjoy the benefits
of sleep and its direct impact in helping you age better, it is advised that
sleep should span seven to nine hours each night. Furthermore, short naps of up
to 15 minutes in the course of the day can help improve memory and aid the body
recover from the effects of a poor night’s sleep.
7.Stay
positive: A positive attitude goes a long way in serving as an
anti-ageing factor. Individuals with a positive outlook on life and what the
future holds have been known to cope better with the inevitable onset of ageing,
thereby prolonging their longevity. This optimism also helps significantly when
health problems set in, with a positive-minded outlook often making the
difference between life and death for such individuals. Considerable research
has also shown how optimism and a positive outlook affects overall health and
longevity. According to Harvard Health, an optimistic outlook early in life can
predict better health and a lower rate of death during follow-up periods of 15
to 40 years.
Measuring optimism You are what
you think you are when it comes to aging. Seniors who think of age as a means
to wisdom and overall satisfaction are more than 40 percent more likely to
recover from a disability than those who see aging as synonymous with
helplessness or uselessness, according to The Journal of the American Medical
Association.
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