Are you looking at feeling younger with more energy as well? There are a number of habits you can incorporate to make sure you have a younger perspective and lots of energy long into your senior years.
One of the most sought-after circumstances that most seniors are looking for is having energy, vitality in both mental and physical ways, and that feeling of being youthful. This may be hard to hold on to as we age but it is not impossible.
By introducing some healthy and positive habits into your regular routine, you can start having more energy. You can start feeling younger in no time.
Maintaining both a physically and socially active lifestyle can greatly improve your overall quality of life during your golden years, making them truly golden.
Through this article, we will offer some tips and habits to get you feeling younger and having more energy.
Getting Quality Sleep
Let’s start with the most fundamentally important area where you can introduce new habits to improve your vitality.
People require approximately seven hours of sleep each night. It is a common misconception to think that those who are older require less sleep.
Despite age, every human needs at least seven hours of restful sleep to function optimally.
Making sure you are getting the ideal quality and quantity of sleep is integral in having more energy. You just might find that you are feeling younger.
This can be done by introducing and maintaining the following healthy sleep habits:
- Go to bed at the same time every night. Introducing this habit conditions your body to have a bedtime. Once you’ve maintained this habit for a little while, you will notice that you’ll start to get tired around that time every night, helping ensure you get right to sleep.
- Don’t eat late at night. Eating late-night snacks or having a large dinner later in the evening is not only bad for digestion, but it’s bad for your sleep. Having an earlier dinner and refraining from snacking late at night can help ensure you have a restful sleep.
- Don’t participate in any activity involving a screen within an hour before bed. Our society’s current dependency on technology is hurting our sleep. Staring at bright screens before bed can make it harder to fall asleep, achieve fully restful sleep, and harder to stay asleep. Activities to avoid within an hour before going to bed are watching television, playing video games, browsing on a computer or phone, etc.
- Don’t do anything but sleep in your bed. Doing pretty much anything other than sleeping in your bed can make it harder for you to follow asleep at night. This includes watching television and even reading. Just like going to bed at the same time every night can condition your body to get tired at that time each day, having a designated sleeping spot will condition your body to grow tired once you’re in the bed.
- Silence your technology. Making sure the notification sounds are turned off on all your devices before going to bed will ensure that you don’t have any disruptions during your sleep cycle, thus ensuring a more restful sleep.
Healthy Eating
You may not believe eating can have any effect on feeling youthful and energetic, but it can be a very important part of it.
Food is your energy source, your fuel. It stands to reason that taking in the wrong fuel would lead to less than optimal results in terms of functionality and energy.
The food you eat can affect your entire day and your overall health. It can make you sluggish or energetic, can cause your joints to swell or ache.
As well it can cause muscle pain and stiffness. As you can imagine, this can lead to a person feeling older and less energetic.
Eating healthy foods and avoiding excess carbs and fats can help ensure your body is functioning at its optimal capability.
Habits That Can Ruin Your Aging Years
Yes, aging is inevitable. However, there are habits that can accelerate the process and there are habits that can decelerate the process as well.
Our bodies will function better when we maintain them properly.
What this means is that when we develop good habits we are able to slow down the aging process.
Here are four habits that can keep us healthier and happier about aging.
Dealing with Your Stress
Stress is definitely a cause of inflammation in the body and when we are dealing with chronic stress the stress hormones are causing all sorts of detrimental consequences on one’s health.
One way to reduce the amount of stress we have is to find a way to say “no” more often. Remembering that life is short and we should be enjoying our life and not having to deal with stress.
The chief medical officer at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, Dr. Raymond Casciari says that people think multitasking is a good thing, but you don’t actually get anything done, you just end up creating more stress.
It is a good idea to find ways to manage stress and not neglect it.
Here are some solutions for managing stress:
- Learn to say no more often.
- Learn to focus on fewer things at one time – no more multitasking.
- If possible you can eliminate the things that cause you stress.
Dealing with Isolation
One of the researchers in the eighty-year-old Harvard Study Of Adult Development, Robert Waldinger, says, “Loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.”
In fact, this study as well as many other studies found that healthy relationships and strong social bonds can improve aging on all levels.
This includes your emotional, physical, and mental health.
It also includes your cardiovascular and brain health.
As a matter of fact, Harvard’s study found that those with strong relationships lived longer than those who had weak social relationships.
It also found that marriage increases life expectancy. The study showed that people who have happy relationships have reduced stress.
All of this is a great way to reduce the risk of heart disease, improving the function of the digestive system, and even boosting the immune system.
Taking Care Of Your Skin
An associate professor of dermatology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Dr. Sarah L. Taylor, said that “The number-one cause of nearly every sign of premature aging on the human face is ultraviolet exposure.”
That is a problem as there are millions of people that don’t use any protection from the sun.
The fact that we are exposed to harmful rays from the sun even when it is cloudy so don’t think that it is only when the sun is out.
What is the best way to prevent damage to the skin by the sun?
- One of the best ways is to use a sunblock that is between 30 and 50 SPF.
- Another way is to wear clothing or use a protective shade to avoid too much exposure to the sun.
- As well make sure your skincare routine is a habit for the rest of your life!
Get Some Exercise!
There are numerous benefits to exercising regularly. In fact, one is the reversal of premature aging.
It has been proven that sitting too much can cause all sorts of health problems. Those problems include diabetes, obesity, and perhaps even early death.
The fact that technology has taken over so many things we do in life, is a big reason for how little activity we do each day.
A study that was performed at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine by Dr. Aladdin Shadyab, found that a sedentary lifestyle especially in senior women found that cells age faster with a sedentary lifestyle. “Chronological age doesn’t always match biological age.”
So next time you find yourself sitting for long periods of time, try to remember that you are not helping your short or even your long-term health.
Here Are Some Ways To Combat Being Too Sedentary:
- Join a gym and find a way to hold yourself accountable either by hiring a coach or going with a friend.
- Find hobbies and interests that involve being more active.
- Join a group or get your friends involved that are active.
Make Sure You Have Good Nutrition
One of the worse things you can do for your health is not eating good, healthy food. Poor nutrition is really not good for our bodies.
Unhealthy food including beverages contain toxins from chemicals and is a recipe for disaster.
Yes, a lot of these unhealthy foods may taste great, but having them all the time is not going to give you energy or make you feel healthy.
Foods that contain a lot of sugar and fat contribute to aging.
As well drinking too much alcohol or eating processed foods is not going to give you the health you want in your senior years.
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Final thoughts:
Making a few choices can lead to feeling younger with more energy as well.
You don’t have to completely change your habits, just make a few adjustments.
When you make the choice to live your best life you will not only be happier but maybe just live a little longer!