In no particular order of importance, the following are ALL important for aging well:
- Exercise and movement!
- In recent years studies have shown that weight lifting is REALLY beneficial for seniors. You can build muscle at all ages, but its especially important for seniors because muscle supports your skeleton and builds stronger bones! Strength training also gives you better mobility and balance. One of the biggest killers for seniors is breaking hips due to falls. What you can’t change as much when you age is that your body takes longer to heal, so you are better off in life if you don’t fall in the first place!
- Don’t slow down! Get out and walk and DO walk in a faster pace if you can.
- Try Yoga or Tai Chi for good mobility and movement.
- Don’t isolate, stay social
- Recent studies have shown that seniors who have a good network of friends or clubs (basically stay social) have better health and longevity. Staying at home and sitting in front of the TV by yourself is NOT good for you.
- Have a healthy diet
- Stay away from processed foods. Cook fresh.
- Make sure to include good fiber in your diet with vegetables, beans and legumes. You don’t need supplementary pills if you eat right. In fact, many supplementary pills are just placebos in that they go right through your system without having any benefit. They aren’t regulated by the FDA either.
- Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol will NOT help but harm you in the long run. Sure, you will see interviews from that one 106 year old who says that they drank a whiskey sour every day and says that its what help them lived so long, which is utter nonsense. THAT person won the genetic lottery basically. There are very few people who live to 100 in the first place and chances are their genetics was the largest factor in that. Don’t take the advice from a centenarian, they MAY be wise, but they have no idea what really allowed them to live so long.
- Protect your skin from overexposure
- When you tan your skin, you are damaging it AND the tissue underneath as well. The browning of the skin is a damage response. You will put yourself at a much higher risk of skin cancer by tanning whether out IN the sun or on a tanning bed. Protecting your skin will help you age better. You can still be an “outdoorsy” person AND protect your skin, so its not an all or nothing. Wear a hat, long sleeve, relax on a beach under an umbrella. Its not hard.
- Keep engaging your mind
- Try learning new things all the time. Learn a language, try playing a new game
- READ! Read a book, keep up on the news.
These are a few things (not an all encompassing list) that will help you age better.
Remember in life, If you don’t use it, you lose it!
Just writing this out helps me! I am doing most of the stuff on the list above myself, but I could be better too.
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