How to prevent accelerated ageing
Dr Libby (PhD) shares why ageing is a privilege and how lifestyle choices shape the way we move through the years.
Key Points
- Ageing is a natural process and a privilege – growing old doesn’t diminish our worth
- How we live and our lifestyle choices can impact whether ageing is accelerated or not.
- There are a few key ways to prevent accelerated ageing and protect your health across your whole life.
Ageing is inevitable, yet how we transition through the years can differ drastically from person to person. As children we typically feel excited about getting older, with milestones like reaching double digits and dreams of what the absolute independence of adulthood will be like.
But at a certain point along the way, getting older is no longer viewed in a positive light. In fact, for many people, ageing becomes something they fear or dread.
In today’s society much emphasis tends to be placed on various aspects of youthfulness as being attractive. We are bombarded with messages about needing to hide the effects of ageing. But your changing lines, hair colour, or body in no way detracts from who you are and the goodness in your heart.
Ageing is a natural process. In fact, it’s an enormous privilege that we get to live into our elderly years.
In saying that, our lifestyle and how we take care of our body most definitely influences how we look and feel as we age. We don’t want our lifestyle to diminish our health so that many of our later years are spent battling health challenges that detract from our quality of life. Here are some ways you can prevent accelerated ageing.
Maintain (or build) muscle mass
After about the age of 30 onwards, we lose muscle mass gradually unless we do something to maintain (or preferably build) it. Muscle is incredibly important to our health – not only does it keep our body stable, it also impacts our metabolic rate and gives us the strength to move throughout our day in the way that we want to.
So embrace some kind of resistance training. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go to the gym. Pilates is a great form of resistance training and yoga uses your own body weight as resistance. Gardening, carrying groceries or children, climbing stairs, and farm work all use your muscles too.
Eat a rainbow
Different coloured fruits and vegetables contain different nutrients – many of which are potent antioxidants. Eating a rainbow of colours helps to ensure you are getting a range of different antioxidants and other beneficial substances that your body needs to thrive, and to help prevent premature ageing.
Quantity matters here too. We need five serves of vegetables per day just to prevent deficiencies so, ideally, we want around seven serves (3.5 metrics cups of cooked vegetables or 7 metrics cups of salad vegetables) to ensure we’re providing our bodies with an abundance of micronutrients.
Become breath aware
More rapid breathing leads to more free radical production, which requires more antioxidants to be consumed in order to avoid excessive damage. When we are stressed, we tend to take short, sharp, shallow breaths that move the chest. Begin to notice your breath – does it stay up in your chest, or does it move your belly?
Diaphragmatic breathing (long, slow breaths that move the belly in and out) slows down our rate of breathing and is one of the fastest ways that we can lower stress hormone production.
Address niggling symptoms
If you’re experiencing digestive complaints or bloating, PMS, or menopausal symptoms, recurring headaches or general fatigue, this is your body trying to communicate to you that something isn’t right.
These symptoms may be common, but they’re not normal – they’re a sign that something within the body needs to be addressed. Investigate them, bring curiosity to each symptom and begin to take notice of what might be driving these.
For some of you, seeking professional advice may be of benefit. Others may know deep down what needs to change and are just avoiding it. The reality is, if you don’t address these symptoms now, they’re likely to get louder and more challenging as time goes on. Prioritise your own health and take action today.
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As we age, our health really does matter – and it’s important to stay up to date with the latest advice and information on health and well-being.
Subscribe to our informative digital newsletter Health Matters, where you’ll receive quality articles, healthy recipes and the latest health information relevant to older Australians. Each edition features contributions from Dr Libby (PhD) – Internationally acclaimed nutritional biochemist, best-selling author, and international speaker – who shares her insights on nutrition, energy, and healthy living. From practical tips to inspiring ideas, Health Matters covers everything you need to know to create and maintain a healthy lifestyle in your later years.
Dr Libby has a Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Dietetics) (Hons), a PhD in Biochemistry, and 25 years of clinical experience.
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional about any health concerns or before making any changes to your medication, diet, or exercise routine.
