Forget the mythical fountain of youth. Science has brought us three reliable answers to the often-asked question: ‘How do you stay young?’.
The importance of staying young
The motivation to slow the process of aging – to keep healthy, active, and happy even as decades pass – is different for everyone.
One person may want to stay youthful so they can travel to unexplored places in their retirement, while another might want to stay younger longer so they can continue to live independently in a wild and beautiful, yet remote, home.
Underlying all the myriad personal reasons for staying young there is usually a single driving factor – quality of life. Most of us want to continue feeling, looking, and acting young so we can experience life at its best.
Remaining youthful is everybody’s passport to a life that fulfils its boldest potential.
As well as warding off diseases of aging that can make the world feel like its shrinking, keeping your body young means there is more time to reach out and embrace opportunity.
More years and better health can create the space for new dreams and goals – from playing with grandchildren and great-grandchildren, to winning a Nobel Prize at 85-years-old, or even water-skiing on your 100th birthday.
How to stay young naturally
Contemporary health and medical researchers are constantly identifying new methods that might help you to stay young-looking or help keep your body and brain active longer.
From among the multitudes of advice and information, there are three natural and achievable changes that are reliably cited as among the most effective ways to remain younger longer.
#1 – Nutrition.
Eating better – whether that be through the Mediterranean Diet, intermittent fasting, or by restricting calories – has a profound anti-aging effect. Changing the food you eat can protect you from life-shortening conditions like diabetes and heart disease, while also improving energy levels and mental health.
#2 – Exercise.
Getting active has been shown to have more positive health benefits than any other single intervention. Exercise can help keep your body young by reducing the effects of conditions like arthritis, guarding against fractures, improving chronic pain, and maximising quality of life by tackling depression and anxiety.
#3 – Mindfulness.
When practiced routinely, mindfulness has a proven effect on a range of health conditions that can significantly reduce lifespan – including mental health, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke – and it can help solve complex and multi-layered lifestyle problems like insomnia.
Practical advice to keep your body young (and your mind too!)
Fit4100’s articles bring you up-to-date breakthroughs, tips, and information on how to stay youthful.
Explore the archive to find ideas that work for you, or try one of these easy suggestions to get started:
- Try two minutes of daily mindfulness for a week. Learn how with our mindfulness guide for beginners.
- Add a new daily exercise to your routine. This could be a simple 30 minutes of walking, or something a little more adventurous like Pilates.
- Experiment with introducing the 16:8 intermittent fasting diet to your day by extending your regular food-free window by two hours. This might mean that if you usually eat between the hours of 7am and 9pm, you don’t begin eating until 9am instead.