ANTI-AGING TIPS
ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE HEALTHTY AGING

Activities to Promote Healthy Aging
By Donovan Baldwin

It's a proven fact that lack of regular physical activity can prevent you from living a long and healthy life.

 When you do not have activities to enjoy, you may actually feel fatigue or find it difficult to sleep at night. Then, when you awake in the morning, you may feel tired until you finally get to fall asleep again. As we, age our body changes and we, in turn, have to make changes to accommodate our lives.  There are both mental and physical aspects which contribute to the value of physical activity (exercise) as part of an anti-aging strategy.

Physically, all the systems of the body respond well to regular moderate exercise, the function of the sensory system, including the brain is enhanced, and depression is diminished and mood elevated by it.  However, activity implies a need for rest, so let's talk about that first.

The Value of Sleep as Part of the Aging Process

Having a good night's sleep helps to allow the mind to think more clearly. A good night's sleep also boosts your energy while controlling your weight. Studies have shown that people who regularly get eight hours of good sleep a night, or more, are likely to weigh less, on average than those who do not.  Although this information has been around for a long time, recent studies have reaffirmed these observations and that you can also make decisions with less stress with a good night's sleep. Sleeping well at night helps make a stronger, healthier immune system.  Researchers have also proven that a good night's sleep is necessary for our health.  Research has also shown that a lack of sleep reduces the growth hormones in our bodies, helping change muscles to fat.

Sleep overall is most important, yet, even so, it stands behind activities.   Even a good walk can be restful while providing exercise.

The Value of Walking

One simple way to improve your health, is to try walking each day.

First of all, walking will help to loosen up our muscles, while relieving anxiety and reducing stress and depression. By alleviating these negative things, it will also help us sleep for longer and deeper periods each night.  Then, when we wake up in the morning we feel happier and more rested.

As a matter of fact, when you exercise moderately, you tend to get a good night's sleep, which promotes a higher metabolism. Without the right amount of sleep, our bodies crave energy. To get this energy, our bodies will release insulin or glucose into the bloodstream, which will slow down metabolism. This, in turn, causes the body to gain weight, rather than control weight. 

It is obvious that when a person feels exhausted, they will feel weak and have difficuly enjoying the activities which can be so beneficial to their health. This leads to additional problems. Sleeping right balances out our bodies giving us, more energy leading to more activities that will satisfy our sleep needs.

What to Avoid

To get the proper rest and feel active you should reduce your intake of caffeine, nicotine, harmful chemicals, such as over-the-counter meds that keep you awake, alcohol and so on. The chemicals and substances will keep you awake. Try to avoid drinking anything after 8 p.m. in the evening. Nicotine should be avoided if you can possibly do so.  However, if you must smoke try to avoid smoking after 8 p.m.

What to Do

Get started on a morning walking program to help wake you up, while boosting your energy. You will feel better as your joints will feel flexible enough to move more freely. In addition, regular walking will help you burn fat and calories. You’ll soon begin to notice a big change in how you feel the rest of the day.  Remember to start out walking at a slow steady pace for only as far as you are comfortable.  Each day, you will then pick up the pace a bit and walk further.

Just remember that when walking that you want to work your way up to a steady brisk walk to make you sweat but not out of breath. A rule of thumb for ordinary people just wanting to be healthy, not olympic athletes, is to walk hard enough to raise your heart rate and breathing but still leave you enough oxygen to carry on a conversation or sing.  You can take a short walk before and after meals to calm your nerves, and burn calories too.  This will also help give you energy, relieve the stress from your long day at work, and help you sleep.

If you find you just cannot do a long walk every day, even a few short walks scattered at various times will still do you a world of good.

Share the Fun

If you start a walking program for yourself, you might find it a lot more fun if you have someone to go with you. Talk to that neighbor you don’t know and maybe they’ll walk with you. Just think about it; maybe you’ll be acquainted with someone new, talk about new things, which will relieve stress, and get in your exercise as well.

Who knows?  Your quest for better health and a good anti-aging strategy might help that neighbor too!  Maybe they haven't seen or talked to anyone in a couple of days and maybe they can sleep better at night.

On the other hand, maybe you simply prefer to walk alone.  That's fine.  Many find that walking is just as good as mediation, and having the opportunity to think your own thoughts at your own pace (no pun intended) can be invaluable to physical and mental health.

Stay Cool, Man...or Woman

After walking that brisk walk, be sure to cool down. When walking at a vigorous pace your heart rate will go up and it needs to get back down to normal, but it should go back down at a controlled rate. Just walk a bit slower and in a relaxing way until you’ve cooled down.

If you can’t go to sleep at night instead of getting up and turning on the TV try pacing (calmly) around the house a bit. Most people think of "pacing" as being a negative reaction to stress, but if done at a stressful time, it can actually help reduce the effects of the stress and produce a feeling of calmness.  Do some stretching and shake your arms and legs. Even walking around the house can relax you especially when everyone else is in bed and you can relax a little more.  Just make sure you don't try to do a heavy exercise routine too late in the evening as that can actually interfere with falling asleep.

By the way.  If you have a TV in the bedroom or piddle around on the computer until bedtime, you might want to change your habits.  Studies have shown that these activities too close to bedtime can also interfere with falling asleep.  Read a book instead.

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Want more anti-aging tips? Read this article on How to Reverse the Aging Process.