Three Things You Can Do To Age Gracefully

In life, we all age, there is no getting around it. However, the way we age can differ drastically from person to person. For example, one 65 year old person could be bedridden with every illness in the book while another could be running marathons. While genetics, disease and other things out of our control can come up, there are a number of things we can do to make sure we age gracefully, and here are three of them.

1. Keep Learning and Challenging Your Mind

(source: curejoy.com)

Once we finish our schooling, whether high school, university of beyond, we often stop challenging ourselves mentally. No longer are we studying, learning and taking tests almost daily, but now we work our jobs which can often get stale after only a few weeks. By just letting our brain stop learning like that, we don’t keep it up to par, and it will start to deteriorate quicker. However, if we keep learning and challenging ourselves it can go a long way in preserving brain function. Whether you take classes, read, learn, do puzzles or anything else, they are all beneficial for your mind.

2. Exercise

(source: popsugar.com)

Keeping your body in tip top shape is just as important as keeping your mind. And remember it is always easier to start working out while you are young and in decent shape than waiting until you are old and out of shape. And while continuing to work out into old age is a great idea, remember to be safe and not go overboard as injuries can happen much more frequently if you are older. If you can make some form of working out or exercise a part of your day to day life now, it will be easier to stick to it in the future.

3. Healthy Diet

(source: vegetables.about.com)

Now while this is important at all points of life, it is perhaps most true for older individuals. As young people, our metabolisms are normally much faster and they get slower as we age, which means we don’t have as much wiggle room with our diet. Of course, a strict diet isn’t always easy to stick with but that is okay. Cheat days here and there and even not keeping a direct log of everything you eat are fine. As long as you are eating mostly healthy and balanced meals, your future self will be thanking you for creating the building blocks for a healthier individual later in life.