Aging well

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, aging is defined by “the progressive physiological changes in an organism that lead to senescence, or a decline of biological functions and the organism’s ability to adapt to metabolic stress, by it’s biological meaning. This transformation is also followed by some ilnesses, such as reduced immunity, loss of muscle strength, and increased risk of heart problems.

But there’s only bad things when it comes to aging? I’ll tell you more about the concept of aging well and how people are starting to fell about it.

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What exactly is aging well?

Aging well is a concept that people can maintain satisfying and healthy lives as they age by the adoption of choices that optimize a healthy and active life. Choices that can be as simple as to stop eating processed meats and industrialized foods, exercising regularly, sleeping well, and taking care of your mental health.

As you become older, a lot of things change. You learn some valuable lessons, make plans, save money, work harder and harder. Until one day, the retirement arrives and you see yourself financially stable, with a lot of free time to spend with hobbies and your family. More important than that, you start to see your priorities with more clarity each year that passes by.

The Active Grandparent Hypothesis

A recent paper published by a paleoanthropologist, Dr. Lieberman, and associates described the “active grandparent hypothesis“, which illustrates how physical activity affects the evolution of extended human healthspans and lifespans. Whilst our ancestors exercised gathering food and hunting, they were able to remain healthy and help raise their grandchildren, stimulating them to thrive as a new and better generation.

Researchers also commented that moving around consumes energy that might otherwise be stored as fat, which, in excess, can contribute to diseases of modern living, such as Type 2 diabetes and heart conditions. Another interesting fact commented was that exercising in any form sets off a cascade of effects that strengthen us. When a person walks a few miles a day, it begins to tears muscles and strains blood vessels and organs, acting as a kind of stress for the body. In response, our bodies initiate a variety of cellular mechanisms that fix the damage or, in most cases, overbuild the affected parts. Without exercise and the accompanying repairs, aging human bodies work less well, leading to diseases and poor life quality.

Thus, being physically active helps you to be healthier. The first step to live a fuller and happier life as a elderly person is: always try to exercise! Swimming, going to the gym, playing sports, or simply walking can improve your relationship with the natural process of growing old.

What else can I do to live better?

There is a few things that, added to exercising regularly, help to improve the getting old experience.

• Eat healthy foods: try to make a more colorful meal, control your daily salt and sugar intakes, and choose natural over industrial foods.
• Give yourself a proper routine of sleep: cientists affirm that when you are not getting enough hours of sleep, you tend to desire higher-calorie and sugary carbohydrate foods, and to feel more hungry than usual. This shift can cause a higher (and worse) food ingestion, leading to problems like diabetes and heart diseases.
• Watch out for your mental health: or plainly, be happy and be grateful. In my opinion, this is the most important thing to care for. When you take good care of your emotional health and put things in perspective, you tend to approach life more smoothly, dealing better with anxiety and pressure.
• Choose your career according to your passion, not the money: picking a job just for the money income or family pressure is a major problem these days. Having in mind that we face long working hours, we better choose a job that we love, instead of doing unwilling work.
• Start a savings account: financial stability is essential for any elderly person. Since working will be harder on you, it’s better to have some money in case of emergencies. A good retirement pension helps, but better to be safe than sorry.

So… Aging isn’t that bad!

Growing old can be a very nice season of life. Setting aside the problems of an senescent body, it’s a time to enjoy the family, travel, have fun, and do all the things that the adult life doesn’t allow us, for lack of time or money. As long as you watch out for your health and happiness, you should be okay!

What about you? What do you do to age well?