At this point, we will not discover that the elixir of eternal youth does not exist. The years pass and leave their mark on our skin. But it is true that, although you cannot slow down the calendar pages, it is possible to slow down their effects. And surely you have noticed that there are women who age better and it seems that time does not pass for them.
Healthy aging
Given the increase in life expectancy, maintaining healthy habits and avoiding risk factors becomes essential if we want to live our maturity better. The average life expectancy in 1900 was 35 years for men (slightly more for women).
A century later, it exceeds 78 in men and 82 in women. This makes education from childhood, known as “healthy lifestyles,” essential to prepare for good aging, which allows us to live the last years of our lives fully.
Healthy aging is the process of optimizing opportunities for physical, mental, and social health that allow older people to actively participate in society without suffering discrimination and enjoying a good and independent quality of life.
The proposal for a strategy to promote active and healthy aging revolves around ten points:
- Participation and social support
- mental health
- environment
- nutrition
- physical activity
- prevention of injuries
- mistreatment
- abuse of addictive substances (alcohol, tobacco)
- use of medications and associated problems
- prevention services
Now we know that you can have a good old age and live it with vitality. This work depends on each one because, as it is well said, active, old age does not happen at random.
Why do we age?
Aging is a natural process throughout the life cycle. Every living organism is born and dies. However, we find a paradox when it comes to this natural evolution:
- The stages of childhood, adolescence, and youth are associated with personal growth.
- That of adulthood at the end or conclusion of this development.
- Meanwhile, old age is related to the decline or deterioration of physical, even moral, functioning.
Youth does not always have to be linked to the positive (“being good”), nor old age to the negative (“being bad”). And this correspondence is not entirely accurate: while we live, there are possibilities for improvements and positive changes.
Important Aspects Of Aging
Nutrition
Women have specific nutritional needs, requiring fewer calories but more nutrients to promote and protect their health and contribute to their independence, self-efficacy, and quality of life.
As you age, vitamin and nutrition deficiency can be a major problem. Following a healthy diet is one way to overcome this problem, but sometimes it gets difficult to do that. In that case, one can opt for women’s health supplements, and it can take care of your body’s nutritional needs.
The goal is to promote healthy eating habits among aging people, emphasizing low consumption of saturated fat and high consumption of foods rich in fiber, vegetables, and fruit.
Physical activity
Physical activity is associated with improving and lengthening the quality of life and plays a vital role in maintaining health and functionality among aging women.
The practice of physical exercise reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, lowers blood pressure, the risk of stroke and colorectal cancer, and has a positive effect on insulin sensitivity.
The goal is to increase physical activity among aging women to 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity exercise, most or preferably every day of the week.
Alcohol consumption
You have to be especially careful with excesses in alcohol consumption. If you overdo it, you will also have dehydrated skin; it will increase the flaccidity of your skin, among other things, because it is responsible for disorganizing the collagen and elastin fibers, which keep us elastic and smooth skin.
If the absorption of vitamins and trace elements that our body needs is negatively affected by alcohol consumption, it will look dry and wrinkled. For example, long-term alcohol consumption decreases vitamin A, causing dryness and flaking. It also causes inflammation that can cause enlarged pores, spots, and a lack of luminosity.
Smoking
Smoking, in addition to clearly damaging our health, also ages. Some studies confirm that tobacco affects the blood circulation of the skin. And if the nutrients do not arrive well and are not oxygenated correctly, it causes premature aging. Without forgetting that you will have the barcode insured if you don’t turn off your cigarette.
We are actively aging means “Living with vitality” each cycle of our life, maintaining healthy habits (preventing disease), optimizing our physical, cognitive and emotional functioning, actively participating in our family and social environment.
Sleep, a vital habit, and anti-aging
Sleep at least eight hours a day. This is because the skin needs time to repair itself, which only happens at night while we rest. At Oxford, they say that not only does the lack of sleep make us fat, but we also get older.
There are endless ways to find a solution before poor sleep becomes commonplace. Practice yoga, relaxation, and walking. The point is to find the activity that relaxes you and helps you fall asleep. Also, at night our cells regenerate, and if we prevent it, we will pay the consequences in the form of bags, dark circles, more irritable skin things that, far from rejuvenating, age us.
Conclusion
The good life doesn’t just end because it’s getting old. At any age, you can have a good and blissful lifestyle. However, if you plan to age healthily into youth, these changes can be comfortable and easy.
Get started with healthy habits like a healthy diet and regular workout today to keep your body active for years to come. Take time to take care of your skin and prepare for the hormonal changes to come. And keep your mind sharp by discovering all the time.
Thus, you are never too old to learn about your own body. And it’s never early to start giving attention to healthy habits, either. So no interest in your age. Now is the time to get on the way to healthy aging. The decisions you make throughout your life are the key to experiencing every minute.
Among our vital objectives as humans is “to defend ourselves against death, disease and the deterioration of the years; attain beauty and love as positive signs of life. “Master, what is the secret of longevity? It is very simple, it is enough with: eat half, walk twice, laugh three times and worry only what is necessary “, says a popular saying. It is the “art of growing old.”
