#40: Embrace Healthy Ageing With These Six Tips

Getting older doesn’t have to suck. It is something we all must face. And while many (myself included) tend to think of aging as a privilege, it is often regarded as the bane of our existence.

Retirement, chronic disease, pains, forgetfulness, deaths of friends… how can we mitigate the unsavory associations that come with ageing? And how can we age better? How can we live optimally?

Let’s dive in.

1: Get Good Sleep On The Regular

The amount, quality and timing of your sleep will play a huge part in how well you will age down the line.

Independent of lifestyle, but especially if it is an active one, always go for the gold with 7 - 9 hours of quality sleep on the daily. You can even include an afternoon nap within your schedule if you have the time.

2: Keep Challenging Your Brain

Life is short, so no matter what field you’re in, make it your goal to learn as many things as possible. If you’re not learning, partake in debates, play challenging games (even videogames) and actively stimulate your brain to help keep you sharp between the ears.

3: Eat Anti-Oxidant-Rich Foods

Antioxidants are practically medicine for your brain. Where do we get them from? They come from minimally processed foods like fruits, vegetables, and most of the things that fall under the umbrella of a wholefood plant-based diet. You can click here for a full list.

Consuming healthy foods, however, is not the be-all, end-all measure that will help you age more gracefully. To achieve the goal, one must also do without the foods negatively impacting health too. The worst of the lot are:

1. sugar

2. ultra-processed carbs

3. industrial seed oils

4. the overconsumption of animal products.

Getting one, good overnight fast (at least a base-minimum of 13 hours) can also be a key player, as your body moves to recycle old, unused proteins and cellular debris that can otherwise undergo a process known as ‘glycation’.

Glycation is when sugar (typically glucose and fructose) attach to protein or fat cells. The process is the cause of several micro- and macrovascular complications related to diabetes. It has also been implicated in diseases associated with ageing. Diseases such as:

1. Retinal ageing

2. Cardiovascular disease

3. Vascular disease

4: Maintain Healthy Friendships

Friendships and healthy relationships with people who root for you and share in your successes have been a hallmark of some of the world’s longest living populations.

Unsure of the basic criteria making a good friend? Okinawan Maoi (a small group of supportive friends) were known for the following traits:

1. They bragged about their friends.

2. That spoke their name in rooms of opportunity.

3. That held them accountable with love.

4. That celebrated their friend’s wins as their own.

5. They compliment more than they criticize. But when they criticize they do it constructively.

6. They encourage new experiences and growth.

Create a circle of 4-5 friends you enjoy hanging with, a circle you can always depend on. Create your own Maoi.

5: Natural Skin Care

Having good skin doesn’t mean you need to break the bank for every skin-care product under the sun. Commercial moisturizers, creams and lotions tend to promise a lot more than they deliver.

All the skin really needs, for the most part, is:

1. Safe sun exposure - dedicate at least 30 minutes of your time to the outdoors. In an ideal world, you can start your day with an outdoor walk or some kind of outdoor activity. This will set the tone for your Circadian Rhythm and can even help you regulate your sleep.

2. Drink water (ideally water only) so as to keep the cells of your skin hydrated.

3. Moisturize your skin with natural products, like coconut oil.

6: Consistent Movement

The best exercise you can partake in to improve your health on all fronts is LISS (low-intensity steady state) cardio. This is a fancy term for walking and other low-intensity activities ranging from gardening to dancing to regular manual labour.

Walking has been associated with better cognition and mental health, better and more confident mobility, and greater independence in daily life amidst inevitable ageing.

If you really want to make the most of your walking time, try doing it under direct sunlight and in the midst of a natural environment (no concrete, no cars, no fumes).

I would also implore folks to engage in a minimum two-times-per-week resistance training routine. Doing so would help build muscle. And that serves two purposes:

1. Muscle acts like a ‘metabolic sink’ that functions towards better metabolic control (for instance, better regulation of blood sugar).

2. More muscle will help elderly folks delay and possibly prevent a condition known as sarcopenia (the accelerated loss of muscle mass and function). Sarcopenia is associated with increased adverse outcomes including falls, functional decline, frailty, and mortality.

Aging doesn’t have to be a drag. But in order for you to see it as such, you need to change your mindset now. There are certain parts of the brain that get even better with age. Things like decision-making based on experience, regulating emotions, reactions to social situations are just three examples.

Life doesn’t have to end after 30. Each year is just another blessing. Another chapter of a story you are writing.

As Robert Frost once said: “In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: it goes on.”