7 Anti-Aging Tips for a Long, Healthy Life
These seven effective anti-aging tips are the keys to a long, healthy life; they’re from the amazing 70 Ways to Beat 70. I love this book because it includes tips for everything from increasing your sense of wonder in the world to taking good care of your eyes!
Before the anti-aging tips, a quip:
“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter,” said Mark Twain.
Yes – but getting older matters far less if you feel great! These seven anti-aging tips will help you lead a long, healthy life. For more info on longevity and healthy living, click on 70 Ways to Beat 70: Keys to a Longer, Healthier Life by David Biebel, DMin, James Dill, MD, and Bobbie Dill, RN.
7 Anti-Aging Tips for a Long, Healthy Life
1. Take care of your eyes. To prevent age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, or vision impairment, eat plenty of yellow and green vegetables every day (spinach, turnip greens, collards, squash, peas, broccoli, pumpkin, and corn). This is key to a long, healthy life because those veggies contain lutein and zeaxanthin. Eggs are a good source of those components, too. For more info, read 7 Anti-Aging Foods and Tips.
2. Cultivate a hobby. “Hobbies are great distractions from the worries and troubles that plague daily living,” writes Bill Malone in 70 Ways to Beat 70. “Besides the reduction of stress and worry, hobbies can aid in the battle of depression…Individuals who are involved with their hobby are happier people.” If you have a hobby, you might like to read How Hobbies Become Money Making Careers.
3. Stay connected. This anti-aging tip is a key to a long, healthy life because a support network helps fight depression, loneliness, and poor health. The authors of 70 Ways to Beat 70 write, “Staying involved often spells the difference between aging gracefully and just growing old.”
4. Develop resilience. “Resilient people tend to adapt more easily to change and to be more optimistic than pessimistic,” write these authors. “They don’t give up easily, and they maintain hope even when it’s difficult….They handle uncertainty better than others and they like challenges.” This anti-aging tip will help you bounce back from difficulties – which keeps you strong, happy, and healthy. If you want to increase your “bouncebackability”, read 5 Ways to Build Resilience – JK Rowling on my See Jane Soar blog.
5. Take charge of your health. “Your goal is to assemble a team of qualified allies with special talents ready to assist you in maintaining your health,” write the authors of 70 Ways to Beat 70. They recommend seeing yourself as the captain of your team – because you’re have the biggest impact on your own health!
6. Cry more often. Crying makes you feel better emotionally, lubricates your eyes and prevents “dry eye”, remove toxic substances from the body, and enhance a sense of community with others. This anti-aging tip is a key to a long, healthy life because it strengthens your emotional, physical, and social well-being.
7. Value yourself. “If we believe we have intrinsic value – value that is not based on things like our looks, our intelligence, or our achievements – then we are more likely to choose friends and activities and to adopt goals consistent with that belief,” write the authors of 70 Ways to Beat 70.
Bonus anti-aging tip: Develope your sense of wonder and increase the “wow” factor in life. You know how kids are awed by rainbows, the moon, kittens, and cartoons? Well, another anti-aging tip is to tap into that sense of wonder you had as a child.
To improve your brain health, read Getting the Health Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Fish Oils.
Do you have any comments or questions about these anti-aging tips? I welcome your thoughts below!
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Comment by LauriePK on 12 April 2009:
“I have found that social dancing leads to a continued engagement with life – past, present, and future – and holds the promise for successful ageing,” says researcher Dr Jonathan Skinner from Queen’s University in Belfast. “It contributes to the longevity of the dancers, giving them something to enjoy and focus upon – to live for. It alleviates social isolation and quite literally helps take away the aches and pains associated with older age.
“In addition to this, and especially in Northern Ireland, dancing brings people together across communities, creating solidarity, tolerance and understanding.”
Dancing is not only an anti-aging tip — it’s a key to a long, healthy life! Gives you more energy, too. For more info about Skinner’s research on how dancing leads to longer, healthier lives, go to Science Daily’s “Dance Your Way to Successful Aging” (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090401103127.htm).
Are you a dancer? I’m not yet, but maybe when I’m old
Comment by Sandy C. on 8 May 2009:
I love to dance! It is unfortunate that there are not more opportunities for social dance in non-alcoholic environments. I am not crazy about square dancing, and I find that much other dancing takes place in bars or smokey environments. Am I alone in noticing this???
Comment by LauriePK on 8 May 2009:
When I was working with Big Sisters and Big Brothers, I went to a retired person’s community center to give a talk about a new program we were launching. It was just after lunch I think, and they had 4 piece band in this big common area with couches and a huge dance floor! There were about 25 retired people there, most waltzing and foxtrotting away….it was SO COOL. I didn’t dance, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the dancers and the band.
Some community centers – not just seniors’ ones – offer dance lessons and events. And, some continuing education programs give dance lessons, and of course so do dance companies.
I think it depends on where you live…
The church in my community is putting on a square dance soon, and I think I’ll drag my hubby along! I remember square dancing when I was in school, as part of gym class. I loved it then, and I’m curious to see if I’m as enchanted with it now. Dancing isn’t just an anti-aging tip for older people — it’s the key to a long, healthy life for young’uns as well.
Now, I want to dance instead of getting back to work!
Comment by Daisypicker5 on 22 June 2009:
Great tips!! I watched a video about preventing wrinkles, it really helped me understand that to be healthy and stay young you just have to take care of yourself.
Comment by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen on 19 July 2009:
Thanks for stopping by, Daisypicker5! Yes, taking care of yourself is a great anti-aging tip….and I think I’ll take care of myself by taking nap right now