Ways to Stay Young in Health and Heart – Part 1

STAYING YOUNG AT HEALTH & HEART
Staying young is an approach to beat the onset of ageing. To stay young and vibrant forever, one needs to obey a few principles. We may already know these principles, but to implement them is the trick is to induce a general feeling of youthfulness in yourself. Staying young is an aspect that covers three domains, the physical aspect, the mental aspect and the emotional aspect. One should be able to look young, feel young and behave young.

LOOK YOUNG
This is a very general approach towards capturing youth. Almost everyone tries to ‘look young’ though they would not admit it. By looking young, let us stick to a very overt definition of young. It refers to the mannerisms and the attire that one may choose. Some gesticulations and facial expressions are associated with old age.

You may wish to avoid a typical old person’s style of talking or walking. However, you must realize that the physical posture alters due to the weakening of one’s body. To retard the process of weakening of bodily functions, it is essential to keep the body fit and fine. When one approaches old age, one may feel it customary to dress up in a particular manner. However, if you look younger than what you actually are, why not consider dressing up in your favorite dress of yesteryear?

FEEL YOUNG
This is a very tricky aspect of the ‘staying young’ part. Feeling is an internal state of being, and thus, it takes time to get aligned. Researchers have been stressing on the importance of ‘young thoughts’ as the solution to retarding the onset of age.

For example, if an elderly person feels that he or she can participate in activities, which require physical exertion, the chances of being successful in such an attempt are surprisingly quite high. Therefore, staying young is really a process that starts in the brain and then ‘spreads’ to the other areas of the body.

THINK YOUNG
The thought process often makes a huge impact on the quality of mind and body. It has been observed that the senior citizens are infamously negative thinkers; and they are capable of spreading this habit amongst their counterparts.
Remaining positive especially in the face of an illness is difficult, but this is where one’s mind needs to be ‘taught’ to stay young. It is vital to tell oneself that ‘all is well’. In fact, one of the tricks to staying healthy is to chant something like ‘day by day, everyday, I am getting better and better’! This may sound funny, but such ‘chants’ can work wonders and help one think like a youngster.

WHY STAY YOUNG?

Why stay young? This could be touted as the most obvious question. One wishes to stay young because one associates the positive aspects of life with staying young. Staying young is almost a trend now, and there are many simple ways to look, feel and act young.

What really could be defined as young? Youth is a quality that defines the state of mind, body as well as heart. We associate the word ‘young’ with good health, high spirits and a state of mental wellness. It is imperative to know why we would avoid ageing. Ageing brings with it a number of ill effects that could impair a smooth functioning of life.

Ageing causes certain changes and these changes affect the whole body. These changes, which could be overt or covert, are readily perceptible in specific areas like hair and skin.

Unseen changes also take place in the internal organs like tissues, and cells, and thus, take time to make their presence felt. Organs are made out of millions of tissues, and miniature cells form a tissue. Aging is a progression that has an effect on each cell that forms the human body.

Growing age brings about a change in the quantity, form, and location of the tissues in the body. For example, the abdominal zones are known to gather fat cells while the legs lose the muscle content with increasing age. The organs of body gradually lose cells and thus their normal functioning begin to get affected.

As the body ages, the cells in every tissue and organ undergo change. Cells gradually lose the ability to divide and reproduce normally. Fat is deposited on tissues and various internal organs. This adds to a state of loss of function over a period. The bone, muscle, and skin degrade further and thus become stiff.

The membranes of the cells alter, and cells start losing their ability to absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxide and other wastes. The body has many extra cells, which are not required by the kidneys, liver, heart, and brain. This is precisely the reason as to why people do not notice that they are losing cells and thus the functioning capacity of the organs.

When enough cells are lost, all the necessary organs show signs of being affected. In some people, the process of ageing starts at the age of fifty. Ageing affects the blood circulation patterns, and thus, some people may notice a change in the way they think or exercise.

Some people may face a gradual memory loss. Others may not even notice these typical changes until much later. Many people suffer from ailments like diabetes, blood pressure, heart problems etc. If any of these sufferings is in an acute state, it may further contribute to the speed of ageing.

A shocking fact is that many medicines may actually contribute to premature aging. If one has been on strong medications due to some severe disease, the chances of that person ageing early are much high.

Stress is another contributor towards rapid ageing. Environmental factors, such as exposure to certain toxins, may adversely affect the bodily functions and thus, ageing may set in.

Genetics has a major role to play in deciding the ageing patterns shown by every individual. The level of activity may also significantly affect the extent to which a person may age. Ageing is actually inevitable, but how one may age makes all the difference.

A steady pattern of ageing requires some discipline during youth itself. Excessive drug abuse, smoking, alcohol abuse and poor nutrition may make the ageing process set in more quickly.

Intake of medicines may affect the extent to which a person can age. People may suffer from ailments like hypertension, diabetes, heart problems etc. These ailments require strong medications; on top of this these medicines can have a detrimental effect on the state of one’s health.

The liver and the kidneys together ‘flush out’ the system of harmful toxins. Strong medicines that may be consumed in order to counter attack the symptoms of diseases may remain in the system. As one ages, the liver and kidneys lose some of their functioning capacity. As a result, the ‘left over’ medicines may not be washed out of the body and will in fact, accumulate internally. This will in turn cause further degradation of the bodily function and contribute to the process of premature ageing.

The breakdown in the functioning of liver can seriously affect cholesterol levels in a human body. The liver processes and maintains cholesterol levels in the body. With an increased cholesterol level, the human body becomes susceptible to organ specific ailments.

Thus, it becomes imperative that we’ stay young’ as much as possible. However, the term ‘staying young’ could actually act as a misnomer. One cannot be young forever and by young, a reference to the bodily and mind spirits gets hinted.

Thus, what matters is how much we delay the process of ageing and how gracefully we age. The twenty first century has made this task almost difficult. A hectic routine calls for an increased level of stress, which affects the body adversely.

People also fall prey to bad habits quickly, and this further acts as a trigger for the process of ageing. No body would want to grow old, but we cannot avoid old age. However, we definitely can look and feel younger than our chronological age.

We need to chalk out a plan that ensures a healthy ageing process. Age would set in not only in terms of the physical wellness, but also in terms of mental soundness. It is vital to be young at mind as well as at heart.

One can ensure physical fitness by a good combination of the right diet and right exercise. It is not an easy task to remain young at heart and at mind. This requires extensive efforts that go a long way in determining the ‘mental age’ of a person!