A lot of people give up in their old age and think it’s too difficult to make new healthy habits. They think they are stuck in their ways. This is only true if you let it be true. It’s never too late to make a positive change. There are plenty of things you can do to improve your health as you age. There isn’t much of a difference between an 18-year-old’s brain and a 100-year-old’s brain according to researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
You can use this as inspiration when you are looking to make significant changes. It’s never too late to change your unhealthy habits. There are a lot of rewards you can get from making these changes. There was a study that tracked over 6,000 people from 44 years old to 84 over 7 years. It found that those who made significant changes in smoking, diet, and exercise ended up decreasing their risk of dying by a significant 80 percent. Making these kinds of big lifestyle changes can help reduce the aging process and help you live longer.
- Get Active
One of the most important changes you can make as you get older is to get more active. You want to incorporate more exercise into your daily routine. Exercise is one of the best ways to reduce your risk of developing a lot of deadly diseases like heart disease. It’s also a good way to stave off high blood pressure and more. You want to ensure you are getting sufficient daily exercise into your routine. Those who exercise tend to live much longer. Believe it or not, it’s not just good for your physical health. It’s also one of the best ways to prevent a lot of cognitive declines. You want to exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes every day of the week for the best results. If you can’t walk you can still get out and about with a mobility scooter – they can be a great way to catch some air – check them out here.
- Improve Your Diet
Not only do you want to focus on incorporating more exercise, but you also want to improve your diet. Try to make positive changes to your diet. There are plenty of different diets out there that can help. However, it’s not only about losing weight. You want to incorporate more healthy foods into your diet. Adding healthy whole foods to your diet is one of the best ways to improve your body composition, reduce risk factors for diseases, and more.
- Improve Your Sleep
Sleep is one of the most important bodily processes. You need to ensure you are getting sufficient sleep and good quality sleep. A lack of sleep is one of the easiest ways to speed up aging. It can negatively impact your appearance, memory, emotions, and more. As you get older, it can get increasingly difficult to get quality sleep. However, you need more sleep as you age. Therefore, you need to make some changes to ensure you are getting sufficient high-quality sleep nightly.
A lot of sleep problems stem from snoring or medication side effects. These are things that you’ll want to address. There are typically underlying medical conditions that are causing you to get poor quality sleep or to be unable to sleep. You want to address these issues with your doctor. It could be acid reflux or it could be sleep apnea. You want to figure out what’s causing your lack of sleep. Ideally, you want to optimize your sleep environment to make it more conducive to getting quality sleep. You can do things like get blackout curtains and even use a white noise machine to drown out ambient noise.
- Quit Smoking
If you are smoking, stop right now. Believe it or not, you can experience the benefits of quitting smoking in as little as 24 hours. It can decrease your risk of suffering a heart attack within a single day. There are so many long-term benefits of quitting smoking. A lot of researchers have found that quitting smoking can reduce a middle-aged person’s risk of dying early by 50 percent.
You also want to incorporate more exercise into your daily life as it can help you deal with withdrawal symptoms. Quitting isn’t easy. You want to try to schedule fitness sessions at periods of the day when you may experience the most cravings. This can distract you and keep you from falling into the same old habits.
- Challenge Yourself
You should look to challenge yourself not only physically or mentally. It could be something like learning a new language or skill or even something like gardening. Try to find challenging tasks to do daily. Keeping yourself mentally stimulated as you age is key to reducing cognitive decline.
Article by Born Realist