Everybody wants to stay healthy
and live a long and fruitful life. Here
are some tips from top experts to help you live a longer life and keep looking
and feeling young all the way.
Do
Lots of Exercise
According to the University of
North Carolina School of Medicine, older people who are physically active have
healthier cerebral blood vessels. Regular exercise also helps you lose weight,
boost your mood and helps you think more clearly, tone muscles and build
healthier bones.
Studies from the National
Institute on Aging show a clear connection between physical exercise and having
better brain power. According to Dr. Gary Small, director of the UCLA Centre on
Aging, walking for just 10 minutes a day lowers your risk of Alzheimer’s
disease by 40 percent.
Avoid
Stress
Recent studies indicate that
stress can cause physical changes inside our bodies that actually make us age
faster. Dr. Herb Benson, director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute in
Boston, says that between sixty and 90 percent of all our visits to the doctor
each year are related to stress-related incidences. Relaxing for as little at
10 minutes a day can bring us back to normal, says Dr. Benson.
Meditation is another way that
helps us calm down. Meditation was shown to help prevent age-related changes in
the brain according to a 2005 study at Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston.
Watch
Your Diet
When we eat a proper diet, it
helps us ward off diseases, stay healthier, and younger. But eating lean meats
and lots of veggies and fruits is only part of the solution. These other foods
will also help keep you young:
• Berries – Fight the chemicals
in your body that can cause cell damage and chronic inflammation.
• Coffee – 3 or 4 cups each day cuts dementia risk 65% according to a 2014
study by Swedish and Finnish researchers.
• Dark chocolate – Keeps your arteries functioning well, but don’t eat too much
or you’ll gain weight.
• Dark, leafy green vegetables – Deliver extra amounts of Vitamin K to help
prevent bone loss.
• Green tea – 2 or 3 cups each day can help block the progression of cancer,
says Dr. Amy Yee, biochemistry professor at Tufts University.
• Nuts, seeds and olive oil – Highly important in giving us omega-3 fatty acids
for numerous health benefits.
• Red wine – Reseratrol in red wine helps lessen inflammations and is one of
our best artery protectors.
• Whole grains – Protect us against heart disease and stroke, diabetes and
colon cancer.
• Yogurt – Along with most other low-fat dairy products is a terrific source of
protein and bone-building protein and calcium.
Watch
Your Weight
According to a 2003 study at
Johns Hopkins University, obesity can increase your risk of dementia by an
average of 80 percent. In the U.S. alone, statistics show that 1/3 of all
adults 20 years of age and older are obese. Being obese increases your risk of
a number of diseases and disturbing health conditions, including:
• Arthritis
• Coronary heart disease
• Gallbladder disease
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Sleep apnea
• Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon).
• Stroke
• Type 2 diabetes
The results of the study showed
that both men and women lose years of life when they’re obese. Losing as little
as 10 percent of your body weight can improve your health, but the study
recommends that you lose it at a safe rate, no more than 1/2 to 2 pounds each
week.
Keep
Your Lungs Free of Pollutants
Your lungs keep you alive:
• Smoking cigarettes quadruples
the chances that you’ll develop blindness in later life.
• Do not smoke and stay away from people who smoke and places where smoking is
allowed.
• Close your windows if it’s polluted or where the air is smoggy outside.
• Stay away from people who smoke.
• Stay out of closed spaces where smoking is allowed.
According to the American Lung
Association, smoking seriously damages your lungs. It keeps your lungs from
being able to clean and repair themselves and destroys the cilia in your lungs
that protect you against infection. That puts you at risk for developing
chronic cough, chest infections, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD).
Sleep
Regularly
Going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day,
including weekends, helps you sleep better. That’s because being consistent
helps to reinforce your body’s sleep-wake cycle, and that enables you to get a
better night’s rest every night.
Your bedroom should be the ultimate example of slumberland,
and not a storehouse for electronic gadgets — so keep your laptop, smartphone
and TV out of the bedroom. The bedroom should be reserved for sleeping and sex,
and nothing else.
The temperature should be kept cool, and it should be as quiet
and as dark as you can make it. Choose the most comfortable mattress and pillow
combination you can find, and make sure there’s room to move around if you have
a significant other who’s sharing the same bed.
Do
Lots of Exercise
According to the University of
North Carolina School of Medicine, older people who are physically active have
healthier cerebral blood vessels. Regular exercise also helps you lose weight,
boost your mood and helps you think more clearly, tone muscles and build
healthier bones.
Studies from the National
Institute on Aging show a clear connection between physical exercise and having
better brain power. According to Dr. Gary Small, director of the UCLA Centre on
Aging, walking for just 10 minutes a day lowers your risk of Alzheimer’s
disease by 40 percent.
Avoid
Stress
Recent studies indicate that
stress can cause physical changes inside our bodies that actually make us age
faster. Dr. Herb Benson, director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute in
Boston, says that between sixty and 90 percent of all our visits to the doctor
each year are related to stress-related incidences. Relaxing for as little at
10 minutes a day can bring us back to normal, says Dr. Benson.
Meditation is another way that
helps us calm down. Meditation was shown to help prevent age-related changes in
the brain according to a 2005 study at Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston.
Watch
Your Diet
When we eat a proper diet, it
helps us ward off diseases, stay healthier, and younger. But eating lean meats
and lots of veggies and fruits is only part of the solution. These other foods
will also help keep you young:
• Berries – Fight the chemicals
in your body that can cause cell damage and chronic inflammation.
• Coffee – 3 or 4 cups each day cuts dementia risk 65% according to a 2014
study by Swedish and Finnish researchers.
• Dark chocolate – Keeps your arteries functioning well, but don’t eat too much
or you’ll gain weight.
• Dark, leafy green vegetables – Deliver extra amounts of Vitamin K to help
prevent bone loss.
• Green tea – 2 or 3 cups each day can help block the progression of cancer,
says Dr. Amy Yee, biochemistry professor at Tufts University.
• Nuts, seeds and olive oil – Highly important in giving us omega-3 fatty acids
for numerous health benefits.
• Red wine – Reseratrol in red wine helps lessen inflammations and is one of
our best artery protectors.
• Whole grains – Protect us against heart disease and stroke, diabetes and
colon cancer.
• Yogurt – Along with most other low-fat dairy products is a terrific source of
protein and bone-building protein and calcium.
Watch
Your Weight
According to a 2003 study at
Johns Hopkins University, obesity can increase your risk of dementia by an
average of 80 percent. In the U.S. alone, statistics show that 1/3 of all
adults 20 years of age and older are obese. Being obese increases your risk of
a number of diseases and disturbing health conditions, including:
• Arthritis
• Coronary heart disease
• Gallbladder disease
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Sleep apnea
• Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon).
• Stroke
• Type 2 diabetes
The results of the study showed
that both men and women lose years of life when they’re obese. Losing as little
as 10 percent of your body weight can improve your health, but the study
recommends that you lose it at a safe rate, no more than 1/2 to 2 pounds each
week.
Keep
Your Lungs Free of Pollutants
Your lungs keep you alive:
• Smoking cigarettes quadruples
the chances that you’ll develop blindness in later life.
• Do not smoke and stay away from people who smoke and places where smoking is
allowed.
• Close your windows if it’s polluted or where the air is smoggy outside.
• Stay away from people who smoke.
• Stay out of closed spaces where smoking is allowed.
According to the American Lung
Association, smoking seriously damages your lungs. It keeps your lungs from
being able to clean and repair themselves and destroys the cilia in your lungs
that protect you against infection. That puts you at risk for developing
chronic cough, chest infections, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD).
Sleep
Regularly
Going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day,
including weekends, helps you sleep better. That’s because being consistent
helps to reinforce your body’s sleep-wake cycle, and that enables you to get a
better night’s rest every night.
Your bedroom should be the ultimate example of slumberland,
and not a storehouse for electronic gadgets — so keep your laptop, smartphone
and TV out of the bedroom. The bedroom should be reserved for sleeping and sex,
and nothing else.
The temperature should be kept cool, and it should be as quiet
and as dark as you can make it. Choose the most comfortable mattress and pillow
combination you can find, and make sure there’s room to move around if you have
a significant other who’s sharing the same bed.
Have
Regular Sex
Remember that the bedroom is for
two things; for sleeping and for healthy and enjoyable sex with your partner.
University of Chicago researchers reported in a 2010 study that people who
enjoy sex regularly live up to two years longer than those who don’t.
Some of the reasons for this
could be attributed to the many health benefits of sex, including the fact that
sexual activity does involve physical exercise, burning around 5 calories per
minute. Sex also tends to flood our bodies with many hormones that are related
to helping us lower stress, reduce pain and provide more restful sleep. Doctors
also attribute sex to helping arthritis symptoms and relieving headaches.
Exercise
Your Brain
Remember “use it or lose it?” It
applies to your brain as well as to physical exercise. In a 2014 study by the
American Medical Association, brain exercises have been shown to prevent
cognitive decline for as long as five years.
Dr. Gary Small, Professor of
Psychiatry at UCLA, says many of the common memory slips we all experience
nearly every day can be helped by practical strategies and exercises. The
latest research confirms that we can boost our memory and keep our brains young
by changing our daily lifestyle habits and exercising our brain more to form
new habits that bolster our cognitive abilities and, in some cases, stop and
even reverse brain aging.
Always
Maintain A Positive Attitude
University of Maryland scientists
have found that laughing can increase your blood flow by 22 percent and help
protect against you against heart problems. In a 2014 Yale University study,
younger adults who had the most negative views about aging were reported to be
twice as likely to later have cardiovascular problems or a heart attack when
compared with subjects who had positive attitudes.
In 1986 Dr. David Snowdon, an
expert on Alzheimer’s disease, studied nearly 700 Catholic Nuns in a long-term
research project known as The Nun Study and concluded that being positive and
serving others can help everyone to live a longer and healthier life.
Thank you for taking time out to read through this article. I hope it was helpful. Please always visit this blog for more health tips.
