There are many factors that combine to give us a better chance to achieve a goal of healthy aging. Factors such as genetics, nutrition, environment, lifestyle, Psychological Health, exercise, diet, spirituality, social support and healthcare all contribute to our ability to achieve a healthy aging.
There is not much you can do about genetics once you have been born, but you can learn all you can about your genetic makeup before and during your reproductive years so that your offspring should you chose to have any will benefit from your healthier choices when it comes to reproduction.
Research has revealed that in those who reach 100 or more in years have many common factors including the ability to shake off stress in healthy ways. We all experience stress in the form of pain or grief. Some are able to learn coping mechanisms that enable them to heal and to go on living productive and mentally well lives; while others dwell in their unhappiness and are unable to get past the stresses of life. Our health suffers when we are unable to live lives in which we participate in healthy activities like being a part of a meaningful society, being vital in that we care for ourselves and our bodies. Those who are not coping with stress tend to lower their quality of living regarding sanitation, medical attention and social contact.
Most of us have the ability to understand the connection between healthy exercise and physical and mental well-being. Participating in strenuous exercise reduces cholesterol, increases the level of HDLs, strengthens muscle like our cardiac muscle and increases the performance of our respiratory systems, lowers our blood pressure, and decreases our risk for certain cancers, as well as increasing our bone mass and our ability to digest foods well. Exercise can also give us a better sense of well-being regarding our attitude about life.
Our quality of nutrition can affect our ability to fight off disease, lower our risk for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. This includes supplementing our diets by taking high-potency vitamins and minerals, including antioxidants. Antioxidants: vitamins C, E beta-carotene and the minerals, zinc and magnesium can protect us from the environmental conditions that we are exposed to that can harm our cells. The aging body needs B6, B12, D and folic acid because of the deficiencies that can occur as we age. Fatty fish consumption 2 to 3 times a week also helps our body to fight aging signs.
There are ways to help improve our mental abilities like short term memory and our reaction times and that is to continue to perform task that require mental concentration and cognitive reasoning like solving puzzles, or playing detective games and reading is an excellent way to stretch our minds. Making a book report (oral or written) can test your ability to remember basic facts like character names, destinations and major events of the book.
When we continue to nurture social networking like community volunteer work or membership in organizations we establish and enrich relationships that can uplift us when we are going through rough times. It is a known fact that those who are married or have pets have close, emotional connections and are more likely to care about appearances, our health and safer lifestyles.
Attending regular medical and dental checkups assures us that we are doing everything we can to stay health medically and mentally, prevent disease and monitor conditions like blood pressure and chronic conditions.
