General Tips to Slow Down Ageing
How much are you doing to slow down your aging and maximize your lifespan and health span? Lots of things contribute to the aging process, many of which will surprise you!
We’ve put together this list of 60 additional tips to slow your aging and live longer, all backed by research.
Skim through it to see what you’re already doing, and what will be easy for you to integrate into your daily routine.
Diet (Nutrition and diet are very individual things and choose what works best for you)
- Reduce your intake of animal protein, especially processed red meat such as sausages, salami, bacon, ham, hot dogs, etc.
- Replace red meat (e.g. beef, pork, mutton, veal) with white meat (poultry), fatty fish (e.g. salmon, herring, mackerel), and meat substitutes (based on tofu, pea, or mushroom protein).
- Consume lots of vegetables, legumes, mushrooms, fruits, nuts, seeds. Vegetables should be the basis of your diet (not potatoes, pasta, rice and bread).
- Reduce your intake of starchy, empty-calorie foods like bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes. Replace them more with vegetables, legumes, mushrooms or quinoa.
- Avoid sugary foods as much as possible, like candy, cookies, sweets, cake, pastries, doughnuts, candy bars, chocolates and so on.
- Avoid trans fats, which can be found in fried foods, fast-food, bakery products (e.g. crackers, cookies, cakes), and vegetable shortenings.
- Significantly reduce your intake of omega-6-fat-rich foods, like corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, margarine, sesame oil, mayonnaise and most salad dressings.
- Consume more healthy fats, especially omega-3 fats, by consuming more olives, olive oil, walnuts, avocados, flax seed, chia seed, fatty fish and so on.
- Consume foods that have come straight from nature and processed as little as possible, like foods your great-grandmother would recognize.
- Consume a daily, freshly-made smoothie with vegetables and low-glycemic index fruits, like blueberries.
- Eat specific foods that can slow down aging: green leafy vegetables (broccoli, spinach, kale), blueberries, dark chocolate (containing at least 70% cacao), salmon, walnuts, pomegranate, etc.
- Consume less milk – it accelerates ageing.
- Don’t drink too much alcohol: that means maximum one glass per day, ideally with plenty alcohol-free days.
- Avoid sugary drinks (such as soda, commercial fruit juices, etc).
- Hydrate a lot. Drink at least 1.5 of liters per day: that’s 8 glasses per day.
- Along with sufficient intake of water, drink green tea, white tea, ginger tea or coffee. Sometimes add spices and fresh herbs to add flavour to your water.
- Avoid taking whey protein, testosterone or growth hormone. They all may accelerate ageing in the long term. However it will be some years before actual data emerges for these. Best is to naturally source your protein.
- Don’t follow fancy diets – most of these may harm in the long term, despite having beneficial effects in the short term like weight loss.
- Eat less calories and eat less often.
- Fast regularly. Eat within a 12 hour period, so your body can fast for 12 hours.
Supplements (Always supplement consulting a physician and after doing your blood markers)
- Take health supplements, like vitamin D3, vitamin K2, iodine, selenium, magnesium, B vitamins, and minimally-oxidized omega-3 fatty acids.
- You may consider taking drugs that could slow down ageing, like metformin, low-dose rapamycin, low-dose (baby) aspirin, or selegiline. Always discuss with a physician experienced in this matter.
Exercise
- Engage in anaerobic exercise (like weightlifting). Resistance training is proven way to extend lifespan.
- Do aerobic exercise (like running or swimming).
- Do high-intensity interval training (HIIT).
- Commit to stretching and posture exercises, like pilates and Yoga.
- Walk more.
Sleep
- Stick to a schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. All seven days.
- Exercise is great but not too late in the day. Try to exercise thirty minutes everyday but not later than two or three hours before bedtime
- Caffeine and nicotine impact sleep. Caffeine can take up to eight hours to wear off fully. Smokers often wake up too early because of nicotine withdrawal.
- Avoid alcoholic drinks before bed. Your REM sleep is robbed with two pegs or more.
- Avoid large meals at night.
- Relax before bedtime. Some activity like reading or music may help. A hot water shower helps too.
- A dark, cool and gadget free bedroom should be your mantra for a good night’s slumber. Avoid having a TV in your bedroom or any gadget for binge watching.
- Turn the clock’s face out of view. Those who have insomnia, often stare at the clock.
- Don’t lie in bed awake. If you find yourself awake after twenty minutes, get up and relax. The anxiety of not being able to sleep can make it harder.
- Catch some morning sunlight by going outside within 30-60 minutes of waking. On bright days, view for 10 minutes. On cloudy days for 30 minutes. No, you don’t have to look directly at the sun. Never look at any light so bright that it is painful to your eyes.
Tracking
- Reduce your blood sugar levels. A continuous glucose sensor may be a good investment to track how your body processes sugars based on foods, sleep, etc. If that’s out of your budget, consider a regular blood glucose monitor.
- Measure your heart rate variability (HRV), which can be predictive of health and mortality. Improve your HRV.
- Get regular health checkups. Prevention is the key!
- Now a days gene testing using DNA also becoming cheaper and affordable.
Lifestyle
- Protect your skin very well against the sun: always wear strong sunscreen, and a hat when going outside in the sun.
- Use high-concentration retinol creams for your face. Consult your Skin doctor
- Take supplements that slow skin ageing and reduce wrinkles.
- Brush and floss your teeth at least twice per day.
- Always wear your seatbelt. Or helmet when on a bike.
- Don’t smoke.
- Do mobility routines to keep joins pain free.
- Don’t be overweight and make sure you don’t have too much abdominal fat (a beer belly). Measure your waist circumference here and calculate your BMI (body mass index) here.
- Schedule everything.
- Write a gratitude diary and journal.
Mindset
- Try to be positive and always see the silver lining in things. Most centenarians have a very optimistic disposition.
- Learn how to be happy.
- Reduce stress.
- Practice meditation.
- Having a purpose and goals in life (feeling useful).
- Be social.
- Challenge your mind every day.
- Use medication sparingly: most drugs have significant side effects.
- Your brain is like a muscle, the less you use it, the more it languishes. Train your brain daily to keep it healthy.
