There are five ways to determine whether or not you're ageing well, according to health experts, and it's never too young to evaluate the process. Ageing is influenced by both genetic and lifestyle factors, with diet and exercise having a major impact.
It takes a lifetime to lead a healthy lifestyle, but it is never too late to prioritise your wellbeing. The life expectancy in the UK is among the lowest in Europe, and it has dropped even further in the last few years, to a two-decade low of slightly under 80 years old.
Some have linked this to living conditions, jobs, poor diets, inactivity, and poverty. The statistics are even worse in the US, where the average life expectancy is only 77 years old. Men are predicted to live for a mere 74 years.
In order to help people evaluate how well they are ageing, 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 and healthy life.
1. Social relationships:
There is a growing epidemic of loneliness, and studies have linked it to an increased risk of dementia and heart disease. Over one-third of adults over the age of 45 and about 25% of adults over the age of 65 report feeling lonely, according to a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
The US Surgeon General issued a warning in May, citing social isolation as a risk factor for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, and dementia and characterising loneliness as a public health emergency.
Research shows that people who have strong support systems in place typically live longer, happier lives. Strong social ties can increase survival chances by 50 percent, according to a comprehensive analysis of 148 studies.
2. Exercise:
You should make an effort to exercise each and every day. Elevate your heart rate; you don't have to be panting for air or drenched in perspiration. Walking, gardening, and other low-impact activities might be examples of this.
According to the NHS, adults should strive to do:
Spend at least two days a week engaging in strengthening exercises that target all of the major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms). Perform at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise. Distribute your exercise over four to five days a week, or every day. Cut down on 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're unlikely to stick with it.
A healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce your chance of dying from any cause.
3. Getting adequate sleep:
Insufficient sleep—less than seven hours—has been connected to heart disease, depression, dementia, obesity, and a host of other long-term health issues. 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 like judgement and memory. It is necessary for both mental wellness and efficient stress management.
4. Make use of it or lose it.
You need to keep your mind sharp as you get older and partake in meaningful activities.
According to a May study, cognitive decline may not always be a result of ageing.
Over the course of three months, adults in the study, ages 58 to 86, attended three to five classes on subjects like music composition, Spanish, and drawing.
By the halfway point of the study, these participants' cognitive abilities were on par with those of people twenty to 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 stick to. It has been demonstrated to reduce your risk of heart disease, dementia, strokes, and some cancers. Packed full of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and healthy fats, but low in red meat and simple carbohydrates.
Conclusion:
It is never too late to begin eating a Mediterranean diet; according to a study, people who begin eating this way as late as 80 years old can increase their life expectancy by three years. On the other hand, changing your diet at the age of sixty can extend your life by up to eight years.
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I hope I am aging well, at least I don't look as old as my sisters Sue & Jeannie both years younger then me
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