Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Feel Younger at Any Age

How does your body feel at this very moment?  If you are like most Baby Boomers, you may be starting to feel your age and fear that things are only going to get worse as the years go by.  However, you do not have to just sit back in your recliner and assume that how you feel now is as good as it is going to get.  Instead, by applying the principles from the Younger Next Year books, you could slow down or even reverse the aging process and feel better than you have in years.

How to Feel Younger Within a Year

According to the authors of Younger Next Year, Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge, "how long you live is 80 percent genes and 20 percent you; but how well you live is 80 percent up to you and 20 percent genes."  They believe that people who follow their suggestions can avoid approximately 50 percent of all major diseases and accidents.  Of course, if this is true, it could make a tremendous difference in the quality of your life as you age.

AARP was so intrigued by the idea that the right lifestyle could help us all feel younger, they interviewed Henry Lodge, one of the authors of the Younger Next Year books (which I highly recommend) and summarized his findings in a special section of AARP Magazine in their October/November 2016 issue. So, what do you have to do in order to feel better and improve the quality of your life?

A Few Younger Next Year Recommendations

Exercise at least six days a week, as hard as you can, until the day you die!  Break it down into four days a week of aerobics and two days a week of strength training with weights.  Include some balance exercises.  Exercise regularly, even if you have arthritis.  It could actually reduce your pain.  Once you are in your 80s or older, continue with the exercise.  However, you can back off the high intensity workouts and rely more on longer, slower exercises.

Spend less money than you make.  This will help reduce the stress in your life.  You may even want to get a retirement job.  It will keep you active and involved in the world around you.  It will also make it easier to live within your means. 

Eat food which is alive, and stop eating dead, processed food.  Your diet should consist of 50 percent vegetables and fruit, 25 percent whole grains like brown rice, quinoa or whole wheat, and 25 percent meat, poultry and fish.  Replace butter and animal fat with olive oil. Limit alcohol to one or two glasses of wine a day, at most. Do not feel as if you have to eat everything on your plate.  The types of dead food we should minimize or eliminate from our diet include popular items such as bread, white rice, white pasta, sugar, chips, soft drinks, frozen meals, desserts, french fries, cheeseburgers, milk shakes, and anything which is fried. 

Care about others.  Connect with your friends and family, and commit to their well-being. Nurture yourself with friendships and, perhaps, a pet.

Enjoy your life. Explore your talents and follow your dreams.  Paint, write, or play an instrument.  Doing these things will make you happier, help you feel better, and you will enjoy your life more, too!

Of course, the entire book cannot be summarized in a short blog post.  As a result, I encourage anyone who wants to age well to read one of the Younger Next Year books.  You can use the Amazon link on the right side panel of this blog, near the top, to order the book.  The book makes a great gift, too! All ads on this blog are from quality, trustworthy sources such as Google, Amazon or Viglink.

If you are interested in learning more about dealing with common health problems as you age, financial planning, where to retire, Social Security, Medicare and more, use the tabs or pull-down menu at the top of the page to find links to hundreds of additional articles.

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