Simple Steps to Slow Down the Aging Process

Like any battle, the fight against aging is best fought on several fronts simultaneously.

Get Up and Get Moving

Exercise is the key to a healthy life if you're eight or 80. A brisk 30 minute walk every day can do wonders. Take friends along or get a dog for company.  It helps with motivation too. Even those unable to walk can still get some exercise while stationary through repetitive movement exercises. It's important to do what you can.

Eat Smart

The right kind of foods in the right quantities can do wonders to stave off the aging process. Plenty of fruits and vegetables, particularly the most colorful ones, which tend to be rich in nutrients, are important. So is keeping your total fat intake down, saturated fats in particular. Read food labels and substitute saturated fat in the diet for complex carbohydrates like starch and fiber.

Busy Body, Busy Mind

Exercise keeps the body working, but a flexible mind is just as important. The more occupied the mind stays, the more its cells are stretched, the better shape it stays in. Start tackling the daily crossword and read the rest of the newspaper while you're at it. Take up a hobby, keep busy and give yourself things to look forward to.

Products

It never hurts to have a little help and there are a wide variety of anti-aging products on the market to help beat the aging process. Aging most obviously manifests itself in outward appearance and there's no shortage of products that tackle that problem. Anti-wrinkle creams that hydrate and tighten skin can take years off a face and are a more cost effective and safer alternative to expensive plastic surgery procedures or injections of substances like Botox.

As well as creams and lotions, there are numerous hormone supplements and pharmaceuticals available that make varying claims of slowing or even reversing the aging process. The production of the hormone Dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA for short, decline sharply in the elderly and has been popular in the marketplace for almost 10 years thanks to its reported life-extending qualities.

Other natural supplements that have been lauded include fish oil, which helps combat heart disease, and green tea, which is said to inhibit the growth of undesirable cells in the body.

Laugh Loud, Live Long

It's the best medicine, it keeps you young, it's birthed a thousand clichés, but there's no getting around it - laughter feels good and that can't be bad. Rent a comedy, read a book of humorous fiction, share some jokes, get together with friends and reminisce about the good old days. Whatever gets you laughing keeps you young at heart, which is a good thing physically and emotionally. Smiling makes you look younger, too.

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