Time catches up with all of us. We will all get older, our bodies will weaken, and that’s just part of being human. But there are steps we can all take to mitigate the symptoms of aging, actions that are never too late to adopt, which can make a tangible difference in our quality of life and overall health as well get older. Here are Oohvie’s steps to aging well, feeling great, and leading a healthier lifestyle for many years to come.
Stay Positive About Aging
Mindset is everything. Over the years, research has shown that patients who have a more positive outlook on their condition or recovery generally tend to fare better than those who believe themselves to be burdensome or their prognosis hopeless. The same applies to aging. People who see their age as a mark of wisdom or resilience are typically happier and healthier. Countries like Greece, Italy, and Japan weave respect and even reverence for advanced age into the very fabric of their culture to the point where some view aging as something to look forward to experiencing. These countries have ten times more people over the age of 100 than the United States. Behavior flows from our perspective, feeding into how we live our lives. Diet, exercise, even levels of social interaction are all influenced by our mindset—make yours friendly toward your natural aging process.
Enjoy A Low-Glycemic Diet
For your body to age well, you have to feed it the right fuel. Stay away from sugars, carbs, and trans-fats; they’ll only accelerate the aging process and make you less resistant to heart attack and strokes. Instead, adopt what’s colloquially known as the “Mediterranean Diet.” Studies in the long-lifespan countries we mentioned above show that a regular diet of nutrient-rich whole foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, extra virgin olive oil, whole grains, and lean proteins like fish cause people to stay healthy longer. On this diet, you can even look forward to looking younger. Omega-3 fatty acids found in many of these foods produce the essentials your skin needs to maintain its elasticity.
Exercise Everyday
The average person can lose about 20% of their muscle mass between ages 30 and 70. The only way to slow it down? Move your body. The more you age, the more rapidly you lose muscle, but resistance exercise and strength training will keep you feeling fit and functional. Think back to those long-lifespan countries again. These places are known for walking and biking being their primary means of travel, and the benefits show in their length of lifespan! If you need an added incentive to exercise, consider that when we exercise our bodies, we’re also exercising the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls learning and some memory function. We now know that physical activity combats age-related memory loss and can even help to reverse memory loss in dementia cases.
Get Your Beauty Sleep
Power nappers beware. Not sleeping the right amount could be wreaking havoc on your aging process, as well as putting you at greater risk for depression, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer’s. When you sleep, a nightly healing process begins that fixes your body and your mind as well. Research has shown that accelerated aging of the brain tends to occur in patients with sleep disorders like insomnia. Not sleeping can permanently impact your memory, learning, and even higher reasoning function. Remember that sleep also aids your physical appearance. “Beauty sleep” isn’t just something cute your parents would say when it was time for bed. As we sleep, we release growth hormones that restore collagen, an essential component of healthy, younger-looking skin. Log your sleep patterns and other health parameters in Oohvie, now with enhanced version 2.0 features, to start your journey of aging gracefully now.