Physical exercise is known to reduce the stress that we feel in everyday life; it can also increase your life expectancy. Thirty minutes a day can vastly improve the way you feel and impact on all of your daily duties. The endorphins released during exercise are responsible for the high one gets after exercising. Having a session in the middle of the day or morning makes our day seem brighter and works on your body throughout our non exercising hours. It speeds your metabolism, helping burn off unwanted calories and releases the feel good components of serotonin and dopamine, the happy juice of the mind.
All exercise is good exercise; go for a walk, ride a bike, stretch with yoga and pilates, touch your toes, do push ups.
Over 50s should incorporate weight resistance training to stave off muscle wasting. Lift weights, use machines at the gym and tension ropes at home to improve your muscle tone and strengthen bones to fight the effects of age.
Sardinia has the most people over 100. The secret here is all to do with physical activity and food. They work, enjoy a large social life full of laughter, friends and family. They eat a little meat, beans and potatoes, but the secret they say to their long lives is minestrone – the soup! Here it is a hearty mix of fava beans, cranberry beans, chickpeas, olive oil, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, crushed tomatoes, yellow potatoes, parsley, cous cous, basil, fregola and pecorino. It has almost all your nutritional needs.
Scientists believe an anti-ageing pill is not far away, they are looking to control the switch in us that makes us age. Anti-ageing medicine will be designed to slow or stop ageing while acting against the diseases that it brings. They are working on more than one hundred different drugs that may hold the answers they are searching for.
Here are some things being studied:
Rapamycin – first used as a drug in transplants to treat cancers, it may have life extension properties and protect against cancer and neuron degeneration.
Resvertarol – a compound found in red grapes has been shown to extend the life of yeast cells. It is now available in chemists and health food stores. Blood transfusions from younger people are becoming popular in the US and Europe amongst the elderly.
Vitamin C and Glutathione injections are said to help rejuvenate. Supplementation with vitamins and amino acids seem to be prevalent amongst those seeking a longer healthier life. Peptides and Branched Chain Amino Acids are being looked at for anti-ageing.
To fight against muscle atrophy as we age, Vitamin D, whey protein, glutamine and potassium are some supplements that can help.
Many species in nature have extremely long life spans, some birds live to one hundred and forty years, some even longer in pristine conditions. The tortoise lives to around 200 years as do some whales and there is a clam in the ocean that has reached 400 years. Trees make this seem like primary school with a species of pine that lives to 5000 years and a tape weed that scores 100,000. Eternal life doesn’t seem as fictional after reaching some of these figures and it has been theorised that there is a jellyfish that does just this.
The face is where we show our age first and it is one of the most used parts of our body, as we express our feelings through our face. We smile, cry and laugh with our face. We eat with our mouth and we use our teeth in all of these processes to show, present and use as tools. The teeth are a most important factor in our quest to stay youthful in appearance. That is why proper maintenance of the teeth is of paramount importance and in today’s world a good smile says it all. Unfortunately ageing has a detrimental effect on the teeth with many people losing teeth as they age. Some teeth need replacing as we get older. Dentures use to be the solution for those who have suffered this irreversible loss. Replacement of the teeth is necessary to regain a youthful appearance, to eat healthy again, for to chew is to eat healthy and to be able to smile with confidence, certainly takes the years off.
Chatswood Dental Centre has a new process delivering all teeth on four dental implants within 48 hours. This revolutionary breakthrough has taken all the fuss and pain out of teeth replacement. The older treatments would take forever and a day to complete with many visits.
The All on 4 procedure means you will have a full permanent set of teeth on only 4 implants in just one or two days. The entire treatment from laboratory to placement under the one roof in just on 2 days has made this one of the most popular procedures in the centres history of care. These implants look, feel and function just like real teeth. You will feel brand new with a great new smile. For details to go www.chatswooddentalcentresydney.com.au
Here are some tips for sustainable healthy nutrition.
- Grow your own food where you can
- Purchase only what you won’t waste – less is more
- Fight inflammation with foods and herbs
- Moderation in everything is the key
- You can’t get fat on fruit and vegetables
- Eating less lets you live longer
- Seasonal and local is the go
- Cook meals around one item in season
- Purple is the answer – eat purple foods
- Green leads the team – we need our greens
- The things you hated as a kid are the things that are good for you now
- Bitters is sweet
- Ask an elder a tip on remedies
- Sip on apple cider vinegar
- B makes you better
- Depression needs magnesium
- Heart needs potassium
Feet play an integral part in our overall health makeup. Doctors can tell a range of conditions by a simple foot examination. Everything from minor nutritional needs to diabetes can be diagnosed from the feet. A sore on the bottom of a foot that won’t heal can be a sign of diabetes, if your foot cramps a lot you could be lacking magnesium, calcium and potassium. Hairless toes could signal a blood circulation problem. The feet contain a quarter of the body’s bones, they are at the end of your body so are very important for many functions as nerves, muscles, tendons and blood vessels all have alleyways to the heart, the brain and the back and spinal region.
In Chinese medicine and reflexology the feet are the central engine to the working of the body’s organs. Pressure points are located on the feet and toes that correspond to the heart, lung, bladder, sinuses, neck and throat and complete glandular and internal systems of the body.
A foot massage, acupuncture or reflexology session is a great stress reliever and little tune up for the system. Our feet drive us to where we want to go and because they are used all the time, damage and general wear and tear do affect most of us, so it is wise to take good care of them.
The right footwear is a much overlooked but necessary health asset. If your feet are healthy, then so goes the rest of us. Feet need to last us a lifetime so the correct right fitting footwear can save us pain, help support our posture, and correct the foot bed.
Custom comfort shoes capture your correct foot size, arch type and pressure points, can help in increasing circulation lessening risk of diabetes and assist in staving off arthritis and prevent falls that are so common with the wrong sort of footwear.
Your podiatrist can help you with all your foot conditions. Go to www.sportsco.com.au for more information on the right type of footwear.
And if you want to take out the hassle and inconvenience out of cutting your toenails, The Toenail People will remove this difficult task if need be. They will also cut your finger nails if required and they will come to your home at your convenience. For further details www.thetoenailpeople.com.au
Through the ages and in the ancient pages the search for secret of youth has gone on. Today many procedures can help us, modern medicine can save us and a healthy happy attitude can heal us.
Over 50s need to get good nutrition into their bodies on a regular basis. A good balance of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants is what we should strive for in our food.
The endocrine system is the chemical storehouse of hormones that passes them throughout our system. Hormones target cells and create change in our cells, they can also create changes in the surrounding tissue.
The endocrine system makes us grow, digest, repair, balances our insides and is responsible for reproduction. It is a system that keeps everything at just the right level.
The endocrine system includes the pituitary gland, the thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, pancreas, ovaries, testes and others. From this you can see how important the endocrine system is on a physical level. On a spiritual level the glands above roughly translate in regions to the Chakra system of yoga and the flow of the Chi system in Chinese Taoist practise.
The Rosicrucian Oder Amorc has a new book on the physical and psychic functions of the endocrine system go to https://www.amorc.org.au/ for this vital book on the workings of this majestic system.
As we discussed earlier most people seeking a longer healthier life use supplementation as one of the keys towards this goal. There are numerous vitamins, antioxidants and specific nutrients that target different functions to support a vital life. Getting the balance right is extremely important and Vital 55+ is a new formula developed by naturopaths that gets it correct for the over 50s.
Containing resveratrol, astaxanthin, probiotics, fibre, vitamins, red, green and purple vegetables, herbs for brain, memory and circulation, this powder to liquid makes it easy to get more of your daily needs in one simple spoonful.
A gluten, wheat and dairy free super spoon of all the right elements combined from the makers of Vital Greens go to www.vitalgreens.com to order or for more information.
Our anti-ageing research has come up with one more common trait amongst the people around the world where 100 years is common and good health the norm. It is a sense of community and faith, whether it be a religious, spiritual faith or a humanistic faith or brother/sisterhood, this bonding and belief in a higher or profound knowledge works for both men and women. Some believe in God, Gods, and some believe in the universe, science or man/woman kind. This sense of belonging and learning from something other than ourselves and doing for others can help to raise awareness and bring a contentment that is very profound.
The ancient rites and traditions of co-freemasonry may help you attain some guidance on the path of self-discovery go to www.comasonic.net for more information.
As we await the pill to end all ill, we discover, learn and live for today as life is truly a gif to us all.
