If we could choose to stay young and beautiful forever, of course, that any of us would accept it, but unfortunately that is not possible.
However, there are some key steps to prolong your young and beautiful, not just your skin and body, but your mind too. Here are 7 simple key steps that will help keep you young from your head to your toes.
1. Restful sleep
Getting regular restful sleep is a must to stay healthy and vital, yet it is neglected or under-emphasized. There is even a tendency for many people to boast about how little sleep they can get by on. But in reality, a lack of good sleep disrupts your body’s innate balance, weakens your immune system, and speeds up the aging process. Human beings generally need between 6-8 hours of restful sleep each night.
2. Love and friendship
Isolation and loneliness can cause rapid aging. Heart attack and death rates are known to increase among the recently widowed individuals and among people who have been suddenly fired from their jobs without warning and against their will. The key here is to try staying connected and open to new relationships throughout your life. Also, try to resist the impulse to be quietly into semi-isolation because you think that society expects that of you.
3. Stress reduction and meditation
Meditation is a simple yet powerful method that takes us to a state of profound relaxation which helps with fatigue and the accumulated stress that speeds up the aging process. During meditation your breathing slows, your blood pressure and heart rate lower, and stress hormone levels decrease. By its very nature, meditation can calm the mind, and when the mind is in a state of restful awareness, the body is relaxing too.
4. Maintain a youthful mind
To maintain a youthful mind, write down a few things you can do that are totally childlike. Think of something that evokes childhood for you: going to a playground to swing, eating an ice cream cone, coloring a picture, jumping rope, or building a sand castle. Find something that brings back the fun in your life, of you, had as a child, even if you think you’ve outgrown it, do it.
5. Exercise
One of the most important things to grow younger and live longer is to exercise regularly. The powerful exercise effects have positive anti-aging benefits including muscle mass, strength, aerobic capacity, bone density, and cholesterol. Not only exercise can keep the body young, but it also can keep your mind vital and promote emotional well-being. A complete fitness program can help you to develop flexibility, cardiovascular conditioning, and strength training. Find your own activity that you can do regularly 3-4 sessions weekly.
6. Eat omega-3 rich food
Oily fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, and herring are the best source of omega-3 essential fatty acids, which can help you in protecting against cardiovascular disease (especially in combination with statins), rheumatoid arthritis and type II diabetes. Also, Omega-3s are known to help the skin stay hydrated and elastic, which means wrinkles are less likely to appear.
7. Increase your intake of antioxidants
Antioxidant-rich foods can slow down aging processes in your brain and body. Foods such as spinach or blueberries could increase the antioxidant power of your blood by 10-25 % — so try consuming more of these. The antioxidant vitamins E, A and C play a major role in protecting your body against free radicals, so try not only to get your 5 a day but also ensure that you take in a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, especially those with strong color.