We all want to enter our senior years aging gracefully and being as healthy as we possibly can. After all, what’s the use in living a long life if that longevity comes with mental decline, pain, chronic disease and poor quality of life. There are natural solutions that have been shown to lead to aging gracefully that you can start using now.
Nutrition is an obvious key to aging gracefully. Having a healthy balanced diet improves your overall general health. Avoid foods high in sugar and processed foods that have no real nutritional value since they can damage collagen and elastin and affect your health in numerous ways like contributing to inflammation and chronic disease. Foods that contain fiber and antioxidants can help with collagen production and production of new cells while fighting off free radicals that can damage cells.
Help Your Body Repair Itself
Not as obvious is some of the ways you can support your body in regenerating itself towards aging gracefully. For example, adult stem cells have the ability to divide and renew themselves for long periods of time, and they can give rise to specialized cells. Stem cells have the remarkable ability to repair and regenerate your body. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a skin cell. New stem cells can migrate to the areas of the body where they are needed most as we grow older thus serving as a repair system for the body. No matter what age you are now, you can work towards aging gracefully by giving your adult stem cells a boost through nourishing them. One way to do this is by taking a stem cell support supplement that has been shown to increase the growth of adult stem cells in in vitro laboratory studies, that supports the body’s natural renewal system with nourishing ingredients, that provides nutrition that enables stem cells to flourish, and that protects existing stem cells from the harmful effects of free radicals. This supplement provides nutrition for adult stem cells to reproduce and has the antioxidant capacity to protect existing stem cells from the harmful effects of free radicals which is especially important during the natural aging process.
Another way to help the body regenerate itself for aging gracefully is to adopt lifestyle changes that research is showing can increase the length of your telomeres. As we age, these telomeres, which are the ends of the chromosomes, get shorter making us more prone to disease. There is research now suggesting that we can lengthen these by making changes in diet, exercise and other lifestyle changes. Let’s take a look at what some of these changes you can make include.
Natural Solutions for Longevity
Socialize
Maintaining an active social life is an important key to aging gracefully. Many people over 100 years old who are still happy and healthy will tell you that a strong social network is one of the most important factors to keeping them young-at-heart. Having social engagements and friends keeps us moving forward toward events in life rather than stagnating in the same place. We are also more likely to stay active, make the effort to look and feel our best, and be mentally alert by staying socially active. Whether you stay social by actually leaving the house or having people visit you or stay connected on the computer, be sure to feed and nurture your social network. Research from Australia has found that people with more friends live longer than those with fewer friends. The friends you pick for your social interactions can also have an influence on longevity. You are more likely to adopt similar lifestyles to those of your friends. For example, if you have friends who eat healthy and you eat out with them, you are more likely to eat healthy. If you hang out with friends that eat fattening foods, you are more likely to join them and increase your chance of weight gain.
Stay Active
Some of the healthiest people in their 80s and 90s are those that stay active. They regularly exercise and involve themselves in community events and organizations. Regular exercise of at least 30 minutes a day each day can go a long way to helping decrease the risk of colon cancer, digestive issues and give you many other health benefits. You can break that 30 minutes down into smaller sessions throughout the day if 30 minutes at a time is too much. There are numerous exercise programs and you may need to consult with your healthcare practitioner to pick one that is right for you. But in general, some of the exercises that help in aging gracefully include:
- weight training or strength training to firm up saggy skin and work on muscle tone
- cardio exercises for heart health
- yoga to improve circulation, reduce inflammation and stress, and for bone health as it has been shown to increase bone density and improve balance.
- fat burning exercises help maintain a healthy weight and prevent conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure
- exercises such as fast walking, weight lifting, weight bearing type exercises and flexibility type exercises that are good for bone health
Become a Napper
Research suggests that people who nap regularly are more likely to remain healthy than people who nap only occasionally or not at all. For instance, people who take regular naps are 37% less likely to die from heart disease than people who don’t nap regularly. Experts believe that napping tends to reduce stress hormones in the body, allowing us to relax and enjoy life. Along with napping, make sure you get the amount of quality sleep that you need to maintain optimal health. For most people this is 7 to 8 hours a night. Not getting enough sleep can lead to an increased risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, mood disorders and chronic stress. Getting less than 5 hours a night reduces your chances of aging gracefully and your longevity.
Develop a Spiritual Practice
Whether due to the social relationships developed in attending spiritual or religious services or from the positive attitudes and outlooks that come from these types of practices, research has found that those who participate in religious or spiritual services have increased longevity. One study on participants over the age of 65 studied over a 12 year period reported that those attending services more than one time a week showed an increase in the level of a protein that is linked to a strong immune system than those who did not attend services.
Support in a Box
Another of the natural solutions for aging gracefully is an easy and convenient way of getting a lot of supplementation for improving energy, dealing with stress, supporting brain health, nourishing cells and dealing with inflammation. This supplement program has convenient daily packets that come in a box of 30 packets and are made with natural ingredients that include bluegreen algae, a variety of medicinal mushrooms, ubiquinol, standardized turmeric and gingseng. Ubiquinol is an active antioxidant form of coenzyme Q10 which is important for stress relief and improved energy. Tumeric is good for increasing serotonin in the brain and has been used in Chinese medicine for a very long time to treat depression. Ginseng is known for its usefulness in improving cognitive function, preventing fatigue and increasing energy and the mushrooms in this combination of supplements have been shown useful for everything from increasing mental clarity to providing cellular support and nutrition.
So you see there are quite a few things you can do that lead to aging gracefully and longevity. The sooner you start the better. Start finding and practicing the lifestyle changes and healthy habits that you can develop now and you’ll not only be living a healthier life now, but will be investing in a long and happy life into your senior years.
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Image courtesy of Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
