What you can do to stay younger longer
Growing old is inevitable, but why is it that some of us seem to age more quickly than others?
While our genes certainly play a large part, for most of us it’s our lifestyle that has a huge impact on how well – or how badly – we age. We can’t turn back the clock but there are some things we can do to prevent becoming old before our time.
**Eat your fruit and veges
**I go on about this all the time but that’s because diet really is so important to our health. If you eat food full of sugar, salt and saturated fat, your body is eventually going to suffer and you may end up with conditions such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
on the other hand, eating healthy foods can protect against illness and slow down the ageing process, according to nutritional experts. American researchers believe that the deterioration of the body – along with diseases associated with ageing, including some cancers – is the result of free radicals.
Free radicals are atoms that for some reason go haywire and start off a chain reaction in the body that damages cells. Then the cells may not work properly or may die as a result. Some free radicals are formed normally during metabolism and sometimes the body’s immune system creates them to fight bacteria and viruses.
They can also develop as a result of environmental factors such as pollution and cigarette smoke. Normally the body can handle them but if you have an overload of free radicals, that’s when damage occurs. The damage then builds up over time, leading to conditions associated with ageing.
It’s believed that free radicals can be stopped in their tracks by molecules called antioxidants. We get antioxidants – including vitamins C and E – from our food, and we need to make sure we eat enough of the right foods to halt the free radicals before they wreak havoc on our bodies. The best sources of antioxidants are fruit and vegetables, and particular stars are apricots, cabbage, broccoli, berries, citrus fruit, spinach, carrots and tomatoes.
Get moving Yes, it can be hard to get motivated to be physically active but here’s something that may inspire you – if you exercise regularly you can add up to seven years to your life, according to a study at a Boston hospital. Meanwhile researchers in Britain have found exercise halves the risk of major age-related diseases such as heart disease and stroke.
But the exercise needs to be aerobic, last for about 30 minutes, five days a week and be kept up late into life. Cycling, swimming and running were found to be best for extending your life, while weight-training and strengthening exercises may not make you live longer but will improve your general health.
Walking protects bones against osteoporosis, while aerobic exercise reduces blood cholesterol levels, pulse rate and blood pressure, putting lessstrain on your heart and improving your ability to think clearly. It also helps youto maintain proper blood sugar control, which is helpful for preventing diabetes and for staying a healthy weight.
Spice up your life A loving sexual relationship will do more than put a twinkle in your eye – it can help keep you young.
Sex is a form of exercise and indulging in it regularly produces similar benefits to other sorts of physical activity, including improved cholesterol levels and increased circulation. It also increases blood flow to your brain and other organs, which helps them work better.
Sex also helps to relieve stress, reducing the risk of stress-related illnesses, and it can also improve sleep. It’s also known be a pain reliever. During sex, the hormone oxytocin is produced, causing the release of chemicals called endorphins. These help you to tolerate pain better and provide relief from conditions like arthritis and headaches.
Stub out the cigarettes Smoking can cut years off your life and ruin those you have left by causing debilitating conditions such as emphysema. It also can also make you look older than you are, ageing your skin by 10 to 15 years, increasing wrinkles and giving your skin a grey palour.
A British study found that girls who started smoking in their teens had the skin of middle-aged women by the time they were in their early thirties. Smoking can also shorten your fertile years – women who smoke may go through menopause two years earlier than those who don’t.
Stress less Chronic, long-term stress speeds up cell ageing by affecting key pieces of DNA called telomeres, according to a US study. The researchers found that a stressful situation, such as caring for a sick child for example, added 10 years or more to the biological age of a mother’s cells.
They also noticed that women who reported being frequently stressed had also suffered more damage from free radicals attacking healthy cells than those who weren’t under so much pressure.
Some stress is unavoidable as a normal part of life, but if you have symptoms such as irritability, depression, anxiety and a general feeling of being unable to cope, then you’re under too much stress and need to do something about it. You need to do this as soon as you can.
**Get more sleep
**If your body can’t repair itself effectively you are more likely to suffer from premature ageing. While you sleep your body is busy repairing your brain, restoring some of the substances depleted while you’re awake. It also carries out repair work on your tissues and skin. If you’re not getting enough sleep you are missing out on this important maintenance work. Suffering from insomnia over an extended period of time is believed to take as much as five years off your life.
Protect yourself from the sunUp to 80% of the signs of skin ageing are due to UV damage, say dermatologists. The early warning signs of UV-related collagen damage are open pores and a slightly rough, bumpy feel to your skin. These will be noticeable before any obvious wrinkles develop. However, skin that is completely protected from the sun won’t show signs of ageing until much later in life.
Think positive If you’re worried about getting older and think it’s going to be dreadful, then there’s a good chance it will be. Your attitude to ageing can play an important part in how it affects you. Being positive may help you stay in better physical health and, according to one study, a sunny outlook can add up to seven years to your life.
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