6 Strategies To Achieve Healthy Aging

Healthy aging is something that most people don’t think about until they start to notice issues. Just 100 years ago the average life expectancy hovered around 50 years old. Thanks to advances in nutrition and medicine, we're now living approximately 30 years longer! But thinking about healthy aging is not just for older adults. Since we're living longer now than ever before, it's important to consider your health at an early age in order to promote healthy living long into your senior years. During our younger "working years", we dream of retirement, and the bucket list of activities that we'll finally be able to check off once we have the time. So what can you do to make sure that you still have the vitality and health to tackle that bucket list into old age? You need to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Let’s take a look at 6 actionable health tips you or a loved one can act on right now.

1. Eat A Balanced Diet

Diet is one of the most important health topics when it comes to healthy aging. But there is nothing groundbreaking here that you don't already know: Eating a wide variety of vegetables and fruits with a balanced intake of healthy meats and fats can go a long way in improving your overall health. By decreasing processed food and increasing your intake of a variety of whole foods you'll be much better equipped to meet your bodies needs for vitamins, minerals and macro-nutrients. Also, healthy eating and wise supplementation can help you maintain a strong immune system, making it easier to fight off illness such as the common cold.

2. Lose The Sugar

It has been estimated that the average American consumes around 120-150 lbs of sugar per year. This equals around 3 lbs of sugar every week. Yikes! Some of the biggest culprits in refined sugar are sodas and fruity drinks and baked goods. Luckily, with a little will power, these health destroying vices are easy to avoid- and can make a MASSIVE impact on your overall health as you age. Just avoiding sugar alone can likely increase your chances of avoiding many serious health issues. Be sure to read labels carefully and analyze nutrition fact tables. Sugars come in many forms and under a variety of names (honey, fructose, sucrose, syrup, glucose, molasses ect.). These sugars have little to no nutritional value and excess levels can lead to weight gain, blood sugar issues, decreased immune function and increased risk for heart disease.

3. Get Moving

Physical activity is any movement of the body that requires energy expenditure. There are four main types of exercise and physical activity, all of which are beneficial for healthy aging:

• aerobic exercise
• muscle-strengthening (weight lifting)
• bone-strengthening
• stretching

Aerobic exercise is the most beneficial for your heart and lungs, while also having a serious impact on weight management. It's not that hard to do- and for the most part, can be a totally fun and social activity. Who knew good health could be so much fun! Walking, swimming, biking, jump rope, gardening, climbing stairs, tennis.... really, just anything that's going to challenge you physically. So go get your heart rate up and challenge yourself!

4. Chill Out

Stress is a real killer, and the evil culprit behind a number of serious health conditions. In short, stress is the response to a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation. In other words, stress is your bodies way of responding to demand. Stress can be good (compels people to action) or bad (acute or chronic and may lead to serious health problems). In today's fast paced lifestyles it is easy to become overwhelmed, burnt out and stressed. How do we manage our stress?

• Try to start a journaling practice, documenting gratitude. This is an activity that has been proven to help reduce stress.
• Spend more time with family and friends which can give you the social support you need to get through stressful times.
• Try to laugh. It really is good for your health, and will help to melt away stress.
• Learn to say ‘no’ when your plate if already full of tasks.

Practice mindfulness-based stress reduction. This can sometimes be achieved easier with an app like Headspace.

5. Challenge Your Mind

Keep your brain firing on a higher level by challenging it in different ways. As we get older, many start to face challenges with memory loss and increased risk for Alzheimer's disease. Maintaining brain health is a cornerstone of well being as we get older. Use your non-dominant hand in different activities throughout the day, ie. brushing your teeth or eating with the opposite hand. Challenge yourself to read more books. Invest in a book of puzzles like crosswords or sudoku. Increase your intake of omega-3 fatty acids like EPS and DHA. Another interesting way to promote a healthy brain as you age is to incorporate Lion’s Mane mushrooms into your daily routine. Lion's Mane has been shown to help increase production of Nerve Growth Factor, a compound that protects neurons and can even regenerate nerve cells.

6. Get A Check Up

I know that for me personally, one of my most important health goals is to age healthy. Even though this is a very broad reaching goal, it is something that should be considered by anyone who plans to live vivaciously and maintain well being into their senior years. By aging healthy you can live happier, more pain free, and less dependent on others as you age.

We All Get Older

I know that for me personally, one of my most important health goals is to age healthy. Even though this is a very broad reaching goal, it is something that should be considered by anyone who plans to live vivaciously until well into their senior years. By aging healthy you can live happier, more pain free, and less dependent on others as you age.