This is how to know if you are aging well

This is how to know if you are aging well


According to health experts, there are five ways to determine whether or not you’re aging well, and you’re never too young to evaluate the process. Aging is influenced by genetic and lifestyle factors, and diet and exercise have a major impact.

It takes a lifetime to live a healthy lifestyle, but it’s never too late to prioritize your well-being. Life expectancy in the UK is among the lowest in Europe and has fallen further in recent years, to the lowest level in two decades: just under 80 years.

Some have linked this to living conditions, employment, poor nutrition, inactivity and poverty. The statistics are even worse in the United States, where the average life expectancy is only 77 years. Men are expected to live just 74 years.

To help people assess how well they are aging, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has created a checklist. This can help you make healthy lifestyle choices that will increase your chances of living a long, healthy life.

1. Social relations:

There is a growing epidemic of loneliness and studies have linked it to an increased risk of dementia and heart disease. According to a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, more than a third of adults over age 45 and about 25% of adults over age 65 report feeling lonely.

The U.S. Surgeon General issued a warning in May, citing social isolation as a risk factor for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression and dementia and characterizing loneliness as a public health emergency.

Research shows that people who have strong support systems tend to live longer, happier lives. Strong social ties can increase your chances of survival by 50 percent, according to a comprehensive analysis of 148 studies.

2. Exercise:

You should make an effort to exercise every day. Elevate your heart rate; You don’t have to be gasping for air or drenched in sweat. Walking, gardening, and other low-impact activities could be examples of this.

According to the National Health ServiceAdults should strive to do:

Spend at least two days a week doing strengthening exercises that target all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms). Get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise. Spread your exercise over four to five days a week or every day. Reduce the amount of time you spend sitting or lying down.

Choose an enjoyable exercise routine; If you force yourself to exercise in an unpleasant way, you are unlikely to continue doing it.

A healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce your chances of dying from any cause.

3. Get enough sleep:

Lack of sleep (less than seven hours) has been linked to heart disease, depression, dementia, obesity, and a host of other long-term health problems. Sleep facilitates your body’s physical and mental recovery from daily activities.

Sleep is essential for the body’s healing processes and for maintaining mental abilities such as judgment and memory. It is necessary for both mental well-being and efficient stress management.

4. Use it or lose it.

You must keep your mind alert as you age and engage in meaningful activities.

Cognitive decline may not always be a result of aging, according to a May study.

Over the course of three months, the adults in the study, ages 58 to 86, attended three to five classes on topics such as musical composition, Spanish and drawing.

Halfway through the study, these participants’ cognitive abilities were on par with those of people twenty or thirty years younger than them.

Another study that was published in JAMA in 2019.

According to Network Open, delaying the inevitable can be achieved through meaningful activities. Those with the highest life purpose scores (among the 7,000 adults who participated) were found to have a lower mortality rate than those with lower scores. To improve your “life purpose,” try making new friends, learning a new skill, and joining new groups.

5. Adopt a Mediterranean diet:

It’s no secret that eating a Mediterranean diet is the healthiest and easiest diet to follow. It has been shown that reduce your risk of heart disease, dementia, strokes and some cancers. Full of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and healthy fats, but low in red meat and simple carbohydrates.

Conclusion:

It’s never too late to start eating a Mediterranean diet; According to a study, people who start eating this way from the age of 80 can increase their life expectancy by three years. On the other hand, changing your diet at age sixty can extend your life by up to eight years.

Depositphotos.



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