Anti-aging Secrets
Forget about secret serums and anti-aging procedures. Growing old gracefully is something you can control by connecting with others.
Friends, Family, Spouses, and Community
Staying connected gets harder as we age. There are career changes, kids move away, illnesses, deaths. This can make it difficult to meet new people and form friendships. Regardless, it’s crucial that we reach out and connect with others because of it has such a positive impact on our physical and mental health. Having social ties with others wards off depression, loneliness, disability and a lot more.
Anti-Aging Secrets
• Stay connected
Get together on a regular basis with friends and family members who live nearby. Spending time with people who care about you will leave you feeling upbeat and lively. You can go shopping with friends or enjoy a lunch date with your children. Exercise with a buddy helps keep you motivated as well as enrich your social life.
• Meet new people
Now that you’re traveling in new circles and are developing new likes and dislikes, make an effort to meet new people, even someone who’s younger. This will keep you energized and see life with a zest and from a fresh perspective. While phone calls and video chats are important to keep us connected, they aren’t replacements for face-to-face contact. Make it a point to spend time with one person each day. Being alone day after day makes us feel cut off from others and depressed.
• Challenge your brain
Find something you enjoy – cooking, puzzles, gardening – and put a twist on it. Take it a step further and try something new each day. It could be as simple as taking a different route on your way to the grocery store. You can also take a class to learn something new, like a foreign language, computer skill or sport.
• Join a club or support group
If you like reading, find a book club nearby. If you like knitting, join a knitting club. And if someone in your family, or someone you know, is going through a serious illness or has just passed away, you can find a support group with people who are going through a similar situation.
By helping each other go through these challenges, you’ll be stronger for not having gone through it alone and you’ll have made new friends. Volunteering and helping others out is a great way to meet new people while doing something useful for others. Finding meaning and purpose in what you do stimulates your brain to release ‘feel good’ hormones which give you what experts refer to as ‘helper’s high.’
• Smile
Stop scowling. When you smile, it takes years off your face because it’s kind of a mini-massage for your facial muscles. Plus, it boosts blood flow to the surface of the skin, so you end up with a glowing and youthful complexion.
• Be grateful
When you value what’s around you, you’re more likely to engage in activities that boost physical and mental health. Don’t take things or people for granted. People who enjoy life know that it’s all about the little things that happen throughout the day.
• Be more accepting
Undoubtedly, life will throw you curve balls and it can be frustrating. The important thing is to accept what you can’t change. Instead of stressing over things you can’t control. It could be humbling when you’re forced to face your limitations but face it with dignity and a healthy dose of humor.
• Express yourself
Use your years of experience and insight to stop burying your feelings because it can lead to resentment and repressed anger. But ignoring it doesn’t make it go away either. That’ll just allow your anxiety and stress to build up. The best way is to get everything out, either by talking with someone or writing it down in a journal.