Looking to shed a few years? That requires making sure that you’ve covered all your bases. We’ve put together a list of 10 ways to turn back the hand of time on your body, inside and out.
Lift weights.
It’s not a surprise that picking up weights regularly can do a body so much good. When it comes to getting older, lifting weights actually protects your body from wear and tear and helps to keep muscles from becoming saggy and weak. While you’ll be able to preserve your strength, lifting weights has also been found to preserve your bone mass over time.
People who strength train over a long period actually have stronger bones than those who don’t. This is because you break down your bones a bit when you lift weights, which requires your body to rebuild bone mass to be even stronger than before. For women, this is especially important when it comes to preventing osteoporosis and serious injury. Try to add at least two days of resistance training to your weekly workout routine to reap these timeless rewards.
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Drink water.
Is there anything water can’t do? We think not. Staying hydrated from day to day aids in keeping weight off, fighting hunger cravings, preserving your skin, and so much more. Beyond that, water helps your body flush out toxins and assists your organs in working at optimal capacity. If there is one magic pill that holds the fountain of youth, that pill is water. Drink it all day and every day for everlasting youth.
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Destress.
Stress is one of the leading causes of health conditions like heart disease, obesity and certain types of diabetes. Your body has a physical response to mental stress and heightened levels of stress can put too much strain on your body over time.
When you are constantly stressed, your body goes into its natural response to help you deal with a dangerous situation.
Typically, your body helps you respond by spiking your blood sugar levels so that you have more energy to respond to a potentially harmful situation. Those harmful situations, in reality, might be anything from overworking to an ongoing family dispute.
If you’re always stressed, your blood sugar is likely always high, which can eventually lead to type 2 diabetes. Your body also responds to stress by boosting your heart rate, which over an extended period strains your heart, which could put you at an increased risk of heart disease and heart attacks.
For these reasons, it is imperative to find ways to manage your stress whenever possible. This could mean going to therapy, exercising, avoiding triggers in your daily life altogether, or getting away for a bit. The long-term effects of stress are just too dangerous to be ignored.
Move more.
While we all know the positive effects of exercise on your looks and weight, moving regularly can also improve the longevity of your body as well. When you move often by doing anything from CrossFit to yoga, you improve your circulation all over your body, increase your mobility, and reduce your risk of physical injury from a basic slip or fall.
Moving often as you age will also help to prevent, or at least manage, symptoms of arthritis, soreness, and lack of mobility.
Even when you start to have more aches and pains in your body as you get older, moving despite those minor pains can reduce your pain with time. So get up and move around as often as you can.
Eat real foods.
Many chronic diseases are tied to the foods that you eat. When you consume processed foods with artificial ingredients, high amounts of sodium and preservatives, you are likely missing out on essential nutrients your body needs to thrive.
What’s worse is that all those artificial ingredients and high counts of sugar and fat can take a toll on your body in the long run, causing diabetes, obesity, and high cholesterol, among other health conditions.
The good news is that you can undo the damage of processed foods by eating whole foods. These are foods that you eat fresh from the market and aren’t processed to lose all the good vitamins and minerals that exist in nature.
Try to cook your own food more often and eat pre-cooked and packaged foods less often. Eating whole foods can undo years of unhealthy eating and add years to your life.
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Sleep more.
Sleep is another magic pill that can help you live a longer, healthier life. You put your body through a lot of stress and tension daily, so your body needs real sleep to replenish and recover. Researchers have found that a lack of sleep can contribute to high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, injury, memory loss, and even weaken your immune system.
But you can turn all of these risks around by aiming to get seven to nine hours of sleep each night. If you’re currently getting much less than that, aim to go to bed just 30 minutes earlier today, then add on another 30 minutes next month so you can stick with your new sleeping habits.
Be social.
Going out and meeting people does wonders not only for your social calendar but also for your long-term health. According to researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, maintaining social relationships can be as important to your health as following a healthy diet.
These researchers looked at the impact of having social relationships on adults’ overall health over several decades. They found that adults with fewer social interactions were at a greater risk for chronic illnesses, including cancer.
If you’re already a social butterfly, keep it up. But, if being social doesn’t come naturally to you, try to join groups in your city based on your hobbies and interests. You can also be more proactive in your existing friendships by picking up the phone to call someone or planning meetups with your friends or family members.
Learn more.
Learning well after you finish school may not necessarily help you look any younger, but it can help slow down the symptoms of aging in your brain. It’s inevitable that over time your memory will become less sharp and your ability to concentrate will falter.
However, neurologists have found that people who are constantly learning — whether it’s playing a new instrument, learning a new language, or reading up on a new subject— can delay the symptoms of mental decline and memory loss.
According to a number of studies, constant learning can even delay symptoms of Alzheimer’s and give you more years of mental fortitude. So pick up a book, sign up for a class, or dive into a podcast on a new topic, and you’ll think like you’re 20 for years to come (without the 20-year-old antics, we hope).
Get outside.
There are countless health benefits to spending time outside, especially in nature. But even if you live in a big city, being outdoors for extended periods has been shown to improve your short-term memory, reduce stress levels, lower disease-causing inflammation, and even improve your vision.
Most of these benefits come from taking a break from being indoors under artificial lights, staring at screens and sitting for long periods. Over time, the effects of being indoors without natural light, and clean air, can cause a decline in your overall health.
To turn back the clock, you can aim to spend about 30 minutes or more outside each day. If you can, do more outside for a longer period on the weekends as well. You should notice immediate benefits to your mood and health while adding years to your life in the process.
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Use sunscreen.
While you should spend ample amounts of time outside to reap all the anti-aging benefits, everything, even that precious natural light, comes at some cost.
Before heading outside for any period—even if you’re just driving— be sure to slather on sunscreen that protects your skin from damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays. Prolonged exposure to UV rays can lead to premature aging of your skin, and it puts you at increased risk of skin cancer. So go outside, but never leave without your sunscreen.
Love more.
Researchers have long found that companionship can help you live longer. When you’re in a stable relationship, studies show that your anxiety levels go down, you have less inflammation, and your hormones are more balanced overall. The long-term impact of these effects will cut down your risk for chronic disease, help you sleep better, and decrease instances of depression. With fewer risks for health complications, you could have more time to love up on your someone special.
Give more love and get more life!
Sharita Jennings is a fitness and travel enthusiast and creator of Get Fit Like That, LLC. She is a health policy attorney and ACE certified group fitness instructor and fitness nutrition specialist. She provides online fitness plans and leads group fitness classes in Washington DC. Check out her fitness tips and workouts at GetFitLikeThat.com.
