Aging is not just one single thing; it is a culmination of multiple factors and can affect various aspects of your life. For example, skin aging results in wrinkles, whereas mental aging can result in poorer memory.
Many people assume that aging is inevitable, and while that is true and genetics do play a partial role in your aging process, there are many things we can do to slow down this process and increase longevity.
If you are interested in slowing down the aging process to look and feel younger for longer, the following 9 tips can help.
Staying in shape is one of the most important things you can do to increase longevity.
This is scientifically proven, with a 2018 study finding that older adults who exercised regularly during their life had cholesterol levels, muscle mass, and immune system function that was similar to much younger individuals.
Exercising also plays a vital role in preventing chronic conditions. For example, exercising helps to control blood sugar levels, which can help prevent diabetes. It can also help to lower blood pressure, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. These conditions can take a toll on your health, and by exercising, you can reduce their risk of occurring.
Regular exercise can also help to preserve cognitive function, limiting the effect of age on the brain’s functioning.
All of this combines to show the positive benefits regular exercise can have on all aspects of your health.
Focusing on a healthy diet that emphasizes whole, natural foods can help prevent diabetes, heart disease, and inflammation in general. With inflammation, a common component of age-related chronic diseases, adjusting your diet can go a long way in reducing their risk.
One crucial aspect of your diet is getting enough protein, which helps you maintain muscle mass. With one-third of all Americans older than 50 not getting enough protein, this is one nutrient you want to ensure you get enough of to preserve muscle function.
Hydration is always touted as a key component of good health, and this becomes even more true as we get older. This is because, as we age, we become more prone to dehydration, with dehydration affecting 20% to 30% of older adults.
This occurs due to many reasons. For example, with age our kidneys do not work as efficiently, leading to a fluid imbalance. Additionally, you may not be as sensitive to thirst signals, meaning your body needs water, but you are not able to acknowledge its signs to drink. Those who are older are also more likely to take medications, with some of them lowering the amount of fluids in your body.
All these elements can contribute to the greater incidence of dehydration in older adults.
Dehydration is dangerous since water is necessary for essential functions such as digesting food, maintaining healthy joints and skin, regulating body temperature, and removing waste. If you do not drink enough water, your body can not accomplish these tasks as well, which can age up your body.
Sleep is vital for repairing cell damage, so skimping on sleep can cause internal and external signs of aging. This means that not only can poor sleep age the skin faster, but it is also linked to age-related diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes.
Despite how important sleep is, sometimes it is hard to get enough. If this is something you struggle with, try creating a calming bedtime routine and focus on improving sleep hygiene by turning off devices, reducing lighting and sounds, and sticking to a regular sleep schedule.
Stress significantly impacts your health and can sabotage other habits that help slow down aging. For example, stress makes it much harder to fall asleep, and the sleep you do get is often poor quality. Find out how stress and sleep impact your immune system.
On a cellular level, stress can also shorten telomeres, which are the DNA protective caps that keep cells thriving. One study found that those with high stress levels had cells with shortened telomeres, which equated to cells that appeared a decade older than those with low stress levels.
One way to address stress levels is by meditating, with a study finding that those who practice meditation have longer telomeres. Not only that, but meditation can help focus the mind, improving cognitive functioning.
As we get older, we may find ourselves spending more time by ourselves, whether this is because social scenes seem less appealing, because age has made traveling to friends and family difficult, or for any other reason. However, it is important to remain social because loneliness has been linked to many health conditions, such as:
If you struggle to stay social, try volunteering, picking up a new hobby, traveling, or embracing social media to help increase your social meter and prevent loneliness.
Getting outside introduces you to sunlight, which provides the body with vitamin D and helps keep bones strong. Not only that, but it has been shown that those with low vitamin D levels have a harder time dressing themselves and walking up steps, two challenges that are often associated with older age.
Additionally, higher vitamin D levels have been associated with longer leukocyte telomere lengths (LTL), which is a predictor of aging-related diseases. These caps on the ends of DNA cells determine the lifespan of a cell and decrease as inflammation (which is common in age-related diseases) increases.
If you want to fight the effects of aging at a cellular level, vitamin D can help with that. Just 15 to 30 minutes is all you need to get enough vitamin D.
While sunlight is beneficial for producing vitamin D, there is the danger of too much sun exposure and how it can prematurely age the skin.
To protect your skin, it is recommended to cover up with clothing, seek shade, and wear a sunscreen that is SPF 30 or higher if you plan on being outside for an extended amount of time.
And while sunscreen does limit the amount of Vitamin D you produce, it does not block this mechanism completely, so you can still create this vital vitamin.
Glutathione is one of the most effective antioxidants in the body and helps to build and repair tissue, make chemicals and proteins in the body, and support the immune system. While the body naturally produces glutathione, this production declines as we get older.
OGF: Original Glutathione Formula is a broad-spectrum glutathione supplement. By boosting glutathione levels with OGF, you can help slow down the internal and external aging process. Glutathione helps to protect your cells and improve your skin’s appearance while also detoxing the body of harmful toxins that can contribute to oxidative stress, which is one cellular aspect of aging.
Glutathione can also help reduce inflammation, a common component of many age-related diseases.
If you want to stop aging from the inside out, try combining OGF with the above habits and see the benefits of these anti-aging tips on your overall well-being.