Aging today has taken on a whole new meaning than it did a hundred years ago. People worry less about reaching their later life, thanks to medical advancement, now they worry about reaching those later years healthy and aging as little as possible.
We all get old, it is the way of life and no amount of Botox or plastic surgery can change that.
There are lots of variables to either aging gracefully or simply aging; stress and nutrition.
The old adage laughter goes along way is true and can tack on an extra ten years if you don’t let the stress take ten away.
1. Stress
Keeping Stress at bay is essential to living a healthy life and preventing disease. Life is full of stress at every corner as you deal with your job, family, kids and all the other stuff in between. Where does one find the time to do it? This is where stress starts to rear its ugly head causing havoc in the body.
Stress releases certain hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, which put your body at a constant state of alert. When needed, these hormones do exactly what they are supposed to do. Unfortunately these hormones are instead being released from a continued state of anxiety.
Cortisol and adrenaline buildup can lead to bad moods, irritability, insomnia, headaches, stomach problems, muscle tension, reduce blood flow, bad diet and depression; none of these issues lend themselves to aging gracefully.
Stressful situations happen on a daily basis, the key is how to deal with them. Breathing is the easiest and quickest way to lower stress as soon as you feel it coming on or know that you are walking into an anxiety-filled situation. Give yourself a couple moments to relax, count to ten and breath it all out.
Repeating this a few times during intense situations will take the edge off your body and allow blood flow to continue as normal.
Another great little trick is when a stressor button is pushed, immediately think of a happy thought; your babies laugh, the dog being extra cute or whatever it is that brings an instant smile to your lips. This will trigger a release of dopamine and counteract the initial stress.