How to Improve Old Age Health During Your Youth

When you’re 15 or 26 or even pushing 40, it can be tough to dedicate much thought or energy to improving your health a half-century down the line. You may think that it doesn’t much matter what you do now, or that you’ll have plenty of time to make healthy changes later on; however, study after study has demonstrated that lifestyle choices early in life can have a ripple effect into old age, and can even influence your odds of enjoying a long life. For the most part, improving your old age health during your youth involves many of the same choices that will make you healthier today as well, but there are some particularly helpful things you can do (or not do). And remember, it’s never too early — or late — to get started.

Part 1 - Making Healthy Choices for Today and Tomorrow

1

→ Choose healthy foods. By now, you’ve probably heard of the “Mediterranean diet,” which prioritizes fruits and vegetables, lean proteins like seafood, and healthy fats like olive oil, among other details. A growing body of evidence indicates that this type of diet does indeed improve the odds of living a longer and healthier lifespan.

→ Consult this wikiHow article for more information on the newest nutritional guidelines, healthy eating in general, and resources regarding the Mediterranean diet.

2

→ Be physically active every day. Jogging, swimming, biking, and other aerobic exercises are clearly beneficial to your health, but simply being regularly physically active — walking around, doing house- and yardwork, dancing, etc. — seems to be a clear point of differentiation between those who tend to live longer lives and those who do not. In simple terms, the more you move your body, the more likely you are to live longer.

→ Even small changes can make a big difference. Walk to the market instead of driving. Get a push lawnmower instead of a riding mower. Plant a garden. Play with your kids or grandkids. Be more physically active every day, and you are likely to have more days in your future.

3

→ Avoid smoking and secondhand smoke. Of all the lifestyle choices you can make, smoking is perhaps the surest way to reduce both your actual life expectancy and your “active life expectancy.” To name but one of many examples, smoking regularly during middle age (45-64) increases your chances of an eventual nursing home admission by over fifty percent.

→ It is well known that smoking increases your likelihood of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and a host of other medical problems. Among these, it also increases your chances of developing osteoporosis and bone fractures, which can severely limit your activity level in old age.

→ In fact, even secondhand smoke exposure during childhood and early adulthood may increase your risk of developing low bone mass, a precursor to osteoporosis.

4

→ Sleep more while younger for benefits later in life. Getting adequate sleep — which, for most adults, is seven to nine hours per night — is beneficial at any age for your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Sleeping well in middle age, however, also appears to help maintain mental function not only the next day but also 30 years down the road.

→ If you’re a young, busy professional or a parent to young children, you may say to yourself that you’ll sleep when you’re retired or the kids are grown up. Unfortunately, you can’t really “catch up” on sleep you missed in your younger years, and people over age 70 usually sleep less and less well regardless. Investing in good sleep in your earlier years is the best way to pay dividends later on.

→ Sleeping well is also good for your cardiovascular health, which is essential to an active lifestyle now and later in life.

5

→ Learn to manage your stress. People who experience regular, excessive stress can face a host of health consequences — like heart disease and diabetes — that can impact longevity and overall quality of life. They may also have trouble sleeping and/or turn to unhealthy stress-relievers like smoking, which also negatively impact longevity. Excessive stress, then, might be seen as a “gateway” to many other factors that can hinder your old age health.

→ Visit the excellent article How to Relieve Stress for a wealth of information on identifying stressors and avoiding, counteracting, and moderating stress.

Part 2 - Preparing for a Healthy Old Age

1

→ Don’t assume you’re too young to impact your old age health. It is true that the oldest person in recorded history (she died at age 122!) smoked well past her 100th birthday, and that many thousands of healthy, active, athletic people die young of heart attacks and other diseases each year. There is simply no guarantee for a long or healthy life. That said, the more healthy choices you make throughout life, the better your odds of having a longer “active life expectancy” — a life without major health-related limitations.

→ Eating healthier and exercising regularly are the most effective proven methods for promoting healthy aging, and the sooner you start, the better.

→ Making healthy lifestyle choices earlier in life benefits you now and into the future. It is also the better way to go because changing unhealthy behaviors (like smoking or overeating) is hard, and only gets harder the longer you have done them.

2

→ Make every effort to improve your lifelong brain health. If you’ve ever known a physically healthy older person afflicted by Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, you know how essential brain health is in old age. While there is no guaranteed way to prevent these terrible conditions or mental decline in general, the same healthy choices that benefit your body are also good for your brain. For instance:

→ Regular exercise and physical activity supports nerve cell formation and survival in parts of the brain that are essential to learning and memory.

→ A diet high in sugar and unhealthy fats increases the formation of proteins in the brain that are indicated in the development of Alzheimer’s.

→ Chronic, uncontrolled stress can damage the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for learning, memory, and emotional control.

→ Despite their increasing popularity, brain games, puzzles, apps, etc. have yet to be proven to improve long-term mental acuity.

3

→ Stand more and sit less. Any small amount of physical activity, even simply standing instead of sitting, is good for your health and may benefit your longevity. As relaxing as it may seem, sitting down and watching TV may be one of the worst things you can do to your expected lifespan. A 2011 study indicated that every hour spent sitting in front of the TV after age 25 reduces 22 minutes from your life expectancy.

→ Try to make standing your default position. Stand instead of sitting while eating lunch, paying the bills, or, yes, watching TV.

4

→ Work hard, but know how to relax. You may have heard it said that “a little hard work never hurt anyone,” and it turns out that hard-working people tend to live longer. You may think that dedicated workers experience more potentially harmful stress, but they also tend to be happier due to more social connections and a greater sense of pride and achievement. Such forms of happiness are good for your overall health and, in turn, your longevity.

→ You probably also know the saying “work hard, play hard,” and driven people who do complement their hard work with relaxing, enjoyable, healthy activities are likely to derive even greater benefits in regards to longevity.

5

→ Be sociable. Your personality and interests may or may not make you the life of the party, but it happens to be good for your life expectancy to make friends and interact socially regularly. Individuals who have multiple positive, healthy, deep relationships tend to live longer on average than “loners.”

→ A loving partner, a close confidante, or a reliable friend provide comfort, solace, encouragement, and happiness, all of which are good for your body and mind. They also make you more likely to remain physically and mentally active.

6

→ Emphasize proven benefits over unclear or dubious “anti-aging” remedies. The older you get, the more eager you become to find that magical “fountain of youth” that will keep you feeling and looking young. Many pills, creams, exercises, etc. advertised as “anti-aging” are nothing but shams, but there are scientifically-encouraging possibilities for slowing age-related decline; however, the old standbys of regular exercise and healthy eating should still be your main focus.

→ For instance, while there are many claims made about the anti-aging properties of antioxidants, there is no clear evidence to support them. Antioxidant-rich foods like fruits and vegetables are excellent food choices regardless, though.

→ Calorie-restricted diets (that provide all necessary nutrients), or chemicals that mimic calorie-restriction effects (including resveratrol and rapamycin) might possibly offer anti-aging benefits. Again, though, the evidence is limited and unclear at present.

→ Popular “anti-aging” hormone treatments — including HGH, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, and DHEA, among others — have not shown evidence of effectiveness in this area, and include a significant risk of side effects.