My mom (right) and her childhood best friend, Elaine
Aging is happening to all of us. We can't escape it. And, as the saying goes, "it's not for sissies." Watching my mother, who lives with me, age is a real eye-opening experience. Not only that, but I'm aging, too. Inside I feel very young, but the exterior tells me otherwise. The picture on the right was taken in late August, 2009--just a week ago as I write this article. don't they look good? They're both still active well into their 80's. That's the way I intend to be, how about you?
I deal with aging issues every day in my practice. Every person I see wants to know how they can keep their health as these changes come inevitibly upon them. My training has taught me well, and I'm pleased to say that I believe my mother and I are aging well. We are relatively healthy, enjoy life, and are still out and about often. You can be, too, if you follow some simple guidelines.
First of all, in order to still be walking and thinking clearly at an advanced age, you've just GOT to eat healthy things. The body isn't designed to operate efficiently on nutrient-deficient fuel. I don't even call those things "food" because food is something that feeds the body. Potato chips do not provide the kind of nutrients that the body depends upon to efficiently and effectively perform its metabolic processes. Sorry folks, but that's the way it is. I'm not totally against potato chips. I love 'em too. But the trick is to get more balanced nutrition--and keep them in their place, which is the pantry, more than the table! I hate to keep harping on this idea of good nutrition, but my training PLUS my experience has taught me that it's the foundation for ALL, yes, I mean ALL good health. Juice Plus is a fruit and vegetable whole-food nutrition supplement that my mother has been taking for quite some time. It has enhanced her health in ways that we were beginning to think were impossible. In fact, the changes that needed to make WERE impossible with the other things we tried. If you want to age more gracefully, and find nutrition to be one of your challenges, please take a moment and check out the link I provided.
OK, enough about nutrition. What else? How about sleep? Well, there we might be back to good nutrition. Mom wasn't sleeping well. She had a hard time falling asleep, and then would wake several times a night. Now that she's getting proper daily nutrition (there's that fruit and vegetable supplement again!) she's been sleeping well for the first time in several years. Sleep is SO important. In another article I wrote for this site, I told how the human growth hormone affects cellular repair. Unfortunately, our supply of this hormone dramatically decreases as we age--AND it's most active during sleep. So, if you don't sleep, and you're getting old, guess what? Your body won't repair itself as easily or as fast. If you're falling apart, you'll continue to fall apart.
Exercise is always important, too. If you stay active as you begin to age, chances are you'll be able to stay that way. Gardening is excellent exercise. What about walks around the block? Joining a swimming aerobics class is a good idea because that kind of exercise is easy on aging joints. You can find many ways to keep your body moving. As you age, it really is "use it or lose it."
I advise all my clients over the age of 40 to take a good quality glucosamine/chondroitin supplement. Why do I do that? Because our joints begin to lose their ability to manufacture cartilage and to keep that cartilage lubricated. If your joints dry out or lose cartilage, you get a bone-on-bone reaction, which is very painful, resulting in inflammation and arthritis. That's a simplified explanation, but close enough. It's enough to know that glucosamine production, which is a major component of cartilage, declines with age, so it's worth supplementing to keep joints functioning as they should. When your joints are pain-free, you feel more like being active. It's a win-win.
I also highly recommend Omega 3 supplementation. That's most often done with fish-oil, but flax seed oil is an alternative. The problem with flax seed oil, however, is that not everybody can adequately absorb it the way they can fish oil. People have complained about the fishy taste of the fish oil capsules, but I have found that many brands are flavored, so that if there is a "burp" reflex, the taste will be palatable. Omega fatty acids inhibit inflammation, asist healthy brain function, promote cardiovascular health, and even improve calcium retention. They do much more than that, but for the growing elderly population, these are the key points that I focus on.
Social interaction is also a key element to aging successfully. I have ready many studies that have proven that people who have a satisfactory social life live longer--and they live more happily. Personal experience has shown that to me, even if I don't have any studies to cite here in this article. When I am happy, I feel more like doing the kinds of things that promote health...in short, I feel more like living. Spiritual practices might be considered in this category, as well. It's often important to our health to believe in something beyond ourselves--even if all that means to you is that you serve others.
Lastly, take care of the stress. All of the tips presented earlier in this article will help with stress management. However, if stress starts to become a problem, take the time to focus on stress-reduction behavior. That might be a massage, a biofeedback session, a trip out of town, a funny movie, or deep breathing exercises, to mention a few. There are many ways to manage stress, but the fact remains: it needs to be kept in control. Stress left unattended kills because it keeps unhealthy hormones in the body, promotes overeating, leads to depression, and causes all sorts of other problems such as sleep disturbance.
Comments