Today I’m going to show you 8 ways to slow down the aging process. A healthy lifestyle will slow down the ageing process. That is the good news. But we will all grow old eventually. No one can escape from ageing, but yes we can slow down the process, if we work at it. If you actually want to do something to lengthen your life and slow down the ageing process you need to make lifestyle changes. Yep it really is that simple.
Since the beginning of time, we have been trying to find ways to stay young. Yet ageing is inevitable, and there seems no way to reverse the process. Each of us is born with an internal biological clock that will count down no matter what we do. There’s no stopping it. Yet by making simple but important lifestyle changes you can certainly slow down this clicking time bomb.
There is an abundance of research to support that healthy eating, physical activity and stress management help promote healthy aging and prevent or delay the onset of age-related disease and decline. Alas the doctor’s surgeries are evidence of how few of us ageing lot actually make the effort to have a healthy lifestyle. ‘I’m too old to exercise, I hear you say … no you’re not, whatever age you are.
If you want to slow down the ageing process, take control of your health by creating habits and make choices that will improve your physical and emotional well-being. Be clear on this, keeping physically fit, having a healthy diet and practising stress-reduction techniques will help slow down the ageing process.
For a young person, it is almost a sin, or at least a danger, to be too preoccupied with himself; but for the ageing person, it is a duty and a necessity to devote serious attention to himself. Carl Jung
In a previous blog What Scares You About Getting Older? I mentioned the most common reasons we fear getting old.
- Illness
- Dementia.
- Caring for sick parents.
- Being cared for.
- Running out of Money.
- Being Alone.
- Dealing with a failing body.
- Losing your mind or mobility
- Not leaving your mark
The word “aging” conjures up certain images:
“an old man who has no sex life, no physical energy, a flabby body, no muscle tone, weakness, slowed thinking, fragile bones, stooped posture, debilitating disease, hospital stays, nursing homes—basically, an end to life.”
Not a pretty picture.
You don’t have to accept that aging is synonymous with declining health, or that becoming a shadow of your former self is a certainty. I’m here to tell you that as you age, you can do it with dignity as you slow down the ageing process.
Study after study shows that the right lifestyle interventions can eliminate, prevent, delay, or even reverse aging and age-related diseases. But you have to know the rules and the secrets of healthy living.
You’re right to fear getting ill or ageing badly. Our most valuable and prized possession is our health. Without our health, we wouldn’t be able to achieve the things we want to in our life, go places we want to go and do things we want to do. Alas many of us as life has progresses, and society has seen incredible advances we have allowed this to reduce our physical activities and brought us to eating very poorly. Our poor lifestyle habits have created an increase in illness and lack of peak performance in the body.
By taking responsibility for your own health now, you can maintain a higher quality of life as you age. Every day the lifestyle choices you make—including the types of foods you eat, the time you put aside to exercise, and the way you deal with the stress life brings—are affecting your health right now, and will affect the way you live in the future. Doing the right things will slow down the ageing process.
You need to recognize the signs and symptoms of ageing badly, such as:
- Gaining weight around your midsection.
- Diagnosed with bone loss/osteoporosis.
- Diagnosed having diabetes.
- Not as strong as you used to be.
- Constant aches and pains.
- High cholesterol level.
- Skin is beginning to sag.
- Reduced flexibility or increased stiffness in my joints.
- Constantly choosing sleep over sex.
- Your Doctor is old enough to be your child
If you recognise things that are happening to you then now is the time to begin making healthy lifestyle changes. Let me provide you with a few important steps necessary if you’re going to slow down the ageing process.
1. Accept the need to change – You must take responsibility for your present condition and understand that you can bring about improvements by making lifestyle changes. No matter how you’ve been living to this point (such as late-night snacking, too much alcohol, too little exercise, emotional eating, unhealthy diet or too few hours of sleep) you still have the power to change, as long as you recognise the importance.
2. Create your wellness plan – having made the decision that you want to change, you have to plan ahead determining exactly what you are going to do. Decide on the diet you’ll keep, the type of exercise you’ll do, and when you’ll do it. But that is not all. A wellness plan needs to lay the foundation for all your new healthy habits. Having a plan to follow helps you remain focused on your goals, and will allow you to more accurately track your progress.
3. Get rid of your negative influences. Have you ever tried to improve one part of your life but find that no matter how hard you try, it may not seem to work? It’s usually because you haven’t cleared out the negative energies or things that are conflicting with it. Make a list of things that you are tolerating in your life, things you know you shouldn’t do or have but are still doing it. And slowly cut down and get rid of it.
4. Drink lots of water. Drinking water is essential for health and anti-aging, because water protects cardiovascular health, promotes detoxification, and facilitates weight loss, among other positive benefits. At least 8 glasses of water every day, about 2 litres is what you should be drinking every single day.
5. Eat your Greens. Five a day is what they say. Have at least three servings a day of green vegetables, and a couple of pieces of fruit or other coloured vegetables to make sure you get the fibre your body needs. I could give you a lot of benefits but here’s one worthy knowing. The compound, known as NMN, lurking in the green fruit and vegetables helps slow the physical signs of ageing, and can rejuvenate your metabolism. Get eating!
6. Rest well. With aging, sleep patterns tend to change. Most people find that aging causes them to have a harder time falling asleep. They awaken more often so it is vitally important to ensure you go to bed at a sensible time and make your bedroom conducive to sleep. A tip is to drink nothing 2 hours prior to your bedtime.
7. Exercise at least 50 minutes a day. Exercise gets your body moving, your blood circulating and your energy in motion. In fact nothing helps to slow down the ageing process more than this. I highly recommend it for at least 30 minutes once in a day. The great thing is that you can break up your 50 minutes exercise a day into 4 or 5 segments if you need to.
8. Take time for relaxation. Stress is incredibly bad for you. It is important to reduce stress as well as do things to help you relax. Spending a little time to do progressive relaxation or deep breathing will help you immensely.
“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.” Mark Twain
The key to slow down the ageing process is to be committed to a healthy lifestyle. Why not check out my healthy lifestyle quiz to see how well you’re doing, or just look around on the blog for more advice.
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