 What does it mean to age gracefully?
You can’t stand in a checkout line without seeing at least a few magazine headlines about how to look younger. While dreading some wrinkles and sagging isn’t uncommon, there’s so much more to aging well. Aging gracefully isn’t about trying to look like a 20-something — it’s about living your best life and having the physical and mental health to enjoy it. Like a bottle of wine, you can get better with age with the right care. Read on to find out what to do and what not to do on your quest to age happily. Tips for aging gracefully Use these tips to help you age gracefully from the inside out. 1. Be kind to your skin Your skin is your body’s largest organ. If you treat it with care, it can better protect your body from the elements, regulate your body temperature, and provide sensation. To keep it looking and functioning at its best:
2. Exercise Regular exercise significantly lowers your risk of diseases, such as heart disease and cancer, and helps you retain your mobility longer. Exercise also lowers stress and improves sleep, skin and bone health, and mood. The Department of Health & Human Services recommends that adults do:
Some examples of aerobic exercise include:
Muscle- and bone-strengthening exercises can be performed using weights or resistance bands. Older adults should also focus on activities that include balance training in addition to aerobic and muscle strengthening exercises. 3. Mind your diet Healthy foods are the way to go when it comes to aging gracefully. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that you eat:
Avoid using solid fats for cooking and use oils instead. Stay away from processed foods, refined sugars, and unhealthy fats. You should also keep your salt intake to a minimum to keep your blood pressure down. 4. Mental health matters Being happy and keeping your stress down goes a long way in helping you live and age well. To keep your mood elevated:
5. Stay physically active Numerous studies have linked a sedentary life to an increased risk of chronic illness and early death. Some options to stay active are going on walks and hikes, taking vacations, and participating in group exercise classes. 6. Lower your stress The effects of stress on your body are vast, ranging from premature aging and wrinkles to a higher risk of heart disease. There are a number of proven ways to relieve stress, including:
7. Quit smoking and decrease alcohol consumption Smoking and alcohol have both been shown to cause premature aging and increase the risk of disease. Quitting smoking isn’t easy, but there are resources available to help you quit. Speak to a doctor about how to quit. As for alcohol, limit your intake to the recommended amount to avoid health risks. That’s one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men. 8. Get enough sleep Good sleep is important for your physical and mental health. It also plays a role in your skin’s health. How much sleep you need depends on your age. Adults over 18 should aim for seven to eight hours of sleep every night. Getting enough sleep has been proven to:
9. Find new hobbies Finding new and meaningful hobbies can help you maintain a sense of purpose and keep you engaged throughout the course of your life. Evidence shows that people who engage in hobbies and leisure and social activities are happier, experience less depression, and live longer. 10. Practice mindfulness Mindfulness is about acceptance and living in the moment by focusing on the present. Practicing mindfulness has many proven health benefits that can help you age better, including:
To practice mindfulness, try:
11. Drink plenty of water Drinking enough water helps keep you regular and improves your energy levels and brain function. Coincidentally, it’s also been proven to help keep skin healthier and reduce signs of aging. How much water you should drink depends on:
Speak to a doctor if you have questions or concerns about your water intake. 12. Take care of your mouth Not taking care of your teeth not only ages your smile, but also puts you at risk for gum disease, which has been linked to heart disease, stroke, and bacterial pneumonia. Along with proper oral care, it’s important to see a dentist regularly. According to the American Dental Association, a dentist can spot signs of nutritional deficiencies, infection, cancer, and other illnesses, such as diabetes. They recommend brushing twice a day, flossing once a day, and using a mouth rinse. 13. See a doctor regularly Seeing a doctor regularly can help the doctor find problems early or even before they start. How often you see a doctor depends on your age, lifestyle, family history, and existing conditions. Ask your doctor how often you should go in for checkups and screening tests as you age. Also, see a doctor anytime you experience concerning symptoms. Takeaway Aging gracefully is more about being healthy and happy than keeping wrinkles at bay. Maintain a healthy lifestyle, surround yourself with people you love, and do things that bring you joy. It’s natural to worry about the challenges that aging can bring, so don’t hesitate to speak to someone about your concerns.
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 5 Benefits of Cardio Training
Cardiovascular exercise is a form of aerobic activity that entails elevating your heart rate for a prolonged duration to condition the heart and lungs, as well as to improve endurance. It involves activities such as jogging, using the stair climber or rowing machine, swimming lengths, or cross-country skiing. Cardio has numerous advantages for the body, including: 1. Cardio Training Improves Heart Health and Endurance Increased cardio means increased aerobic capacity — the amount of oxygen your blood receives and uses. This improved cardiovascular health allows your heart and lungs to move oxygen through your body more efficiently, which increases your endurance to get through longer training sessions. 2. Cardio Exercise Reduces Body Fat Due to the elevated heart rate and continuous intensity, cardio burns more calories than strength training. This higher calorie burn is why cardio workouts are more often associated with fat loss. That said, there are two types of cardio for fat loss to consider. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): For HIIT workouts, you want to get to at least 80% of your maximum heart rate during the high-intensity intervals and not allow it to drop below 50% for the low-intensity intervals or breaks. HIIT workouts help you to retain current muscle mass. HIIT fat loss is believed to be related to an increase in hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), a fat-burning enzyme activated by the release of hormones. Low-Intensity Steady State (LISS): LISS workouts consist of aerobic activities (walking, jogging at a leisurely pace, swimming laps, etc.) performed at low intensity for an extended period. It’s the opposite of HIIT. Research suggests that LISS workouts may help burn fat at a higher rate than high-intensity workouts. As a result, LISS is often considered better for anyone with significant fat loss goals, especially since it’s suited for all fitness levels. 3. Cardio Workouts Increases Energy There’s a complex relationship between stress, hormones, and energy. When you do cardio, your body releases stress hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine). When released in small amounts through exercise, these hormones give your body energy. 4. Cardio Regimens Lower Blood Pressure Levels Regular cardio activity makes your heart stronger, allowing it to pump blood with less effort, decreasing the pressure on your arteries while lowering your blood pressure. In addition, studies have shown that endurance exercises like running, cycling, or rowing are effective at decreasing blood pressure. 5. Cardio Activity Increases Mental Clarity The increased blood flow from your cardio routine is good for your body and brain. Improved circulation can lead to better memory, as well as increased alertness and brain function. 5 Benefits of Strength Training Strength training, also frequently referred to as weight training, involves engaging your muscles against resistance in order to boost muscle endurance and power. The muscles are tasked with counteracting forces generated from your workout gear, whether that's weight training equipment like YBells, kettlebells and dumbbells, specialized machines, or your own body weight. Some of the advantages of strength training include: 1. Strength Training Builds Muscle Lifting weights builds and sculpts your muscles through hypertrophy, which is an increase in the size of muscles. Weights put more resistance on your muscles, breaking down tissue quickly and triggering your body to heal and build muscle in the process. A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that participants increased their lean mass through a weight training program. 2. Strength Training Burns Calories Even After the Workout While cardio training burns more calories during the actual workout, strength training burns calories long after the workout ends. Your muscle is constantly being broken down and built back up, which requires energy (calories). This after-burn leads to a more significant calorie burn throughout the day. 3. Weight Training Protects Bone Health Weight training helps to increase your bone density, which strengthens your bones. Stronger bones can slow down or help to prevent osteoporosis, not to mention avoiding breaking or fracturing your bones. 4. Strength Training Prevents Injuries Stronger muscles support your joints, increase your mobility, and reduce your risk of hip or knee damage or arthritis. Strong joints also prevent injury through better balance, coordination and improved posture, decreasing lower back and neck pain. A study from the National Library of Medicine showed that strength training reduced the risk of falling by 40% in older people (who are at higher risk of falling). 5. Weight Training Improves Cardiovascular Health Weight training increases lean muscle mass, allowing your lungs to process more oxygen as you breathe and your heart to pump more blood with less pressure. Lowered pressure on your arteries puts less demand on your heart, reducing heart-related health issues. If you regularly lift weights, you’ll reap the benefits of a lowered risk of a stroke or heart attack.  What Is a Calorie Deficit?
Calories are a measure of the amount of energy in food. All of the cells in your body require energy in order to work properly, just like a car needs fuel. They get that energy from the foods that you eat. Your body breaks down that food during digestion, releasing the energy that it contains. Those food calories – now converted to energy – power everything that you do: breathing, thinking, walking, sleeping, digesting, you name it. But your body may not need to use all that energy right after you eat. It stores those extra calories – mostly as fat but also as carbohydrates – for later use. When you go to the gym, study hard for a test, or find yourself involved in any other energy-demanding activity, those stores provide the energy you need to power through. If your activities burn fewer calories than you consume, those stores of extra calories will grow, and you will gain weight. But the opposite is also true: You will lose weight if you burn more calories than you consume. That’s because doing so creates a calorie deficit. It forces your body to burn through the stores of fat that you have built up. This leads to weight loss. In fact, you won’t lose weight without a calorie deficit. What Should Your Calorie Deficit Be? A good rule of thumb for healthy weight loss is a deficit of about 500 calories per day. That should put you on course to lose about 1 pound per week. This is based on a starting point of at least 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day for women, and 1,500 to 1,800 calories a day for men. It can be unhealthy to take in less than that per day. Talk to your doctor about the minimum calories you need. Keep in mind that you may not need a calorie deficit at all. You only need it if you want to lose weight for health or other reasons. Always talk to your doctor before you start a weight loss plan, especially if you have health problems. How to Reach a Calorie Deficit to Lose Weight Reaching a calorie deficit sounds simple: Eat fewer calories than your body needs. But to do that, you must first find out what those needs amount to: How many calories do you burn each day? Once you have established that, you take that total number of calories and subtract from it the number of calories necessary to achieve the calorie deficit you desire. An example: Let’s say you find that you need roughly 2,000 calories a day, and you want to lose about 1 pound per week. You could do this by eating about 500 fewer calories every day. Your goal, then, is to eat 1,500 calories daily. That creates a 500-calorie deficit. There’s another way. Instead of eating fewer calories on a daily basis, you instead increase the amount of exercise you do so that you burn 500 more calories every day. The result: You need 2,500 calories daily, but you keep consuming 2,000 calories. You have created that same 500-calorie deficit. You also can mix and match: Increase the amount of exercise you do daily to burn, say, 200 more calories while cutting 300 calories from your daily diet. Your calorie deficit: 500. These basic examples simply explain how it’s done. The best way to create – and maintain – your calorie deficit is the way that works for you. Keep in mind that your calorie needs depend on several things: your age, sex, height, weight, and exercise habits. This calculator can help you figure out your daily calorie requirements. Other things that determine your calorie needs: Your metabolic rate. This is how quickly or slowly you burn calories at rest. It varies widely from person to person. Some health conditions. Hypothyroidism, in which your thyroid gland is underactive, slows metabolism. So does Cushing’s syndrome, a condition that’s caused by having too much of the hormone cortisol. Remember, creating too much of a calorie deficit is a bad idea. It can cause several side effects, including:
It may also leave you feeling "hangry": angry because you’re hungry. Along with those side effects, an oversized calorie deficit will be harder for your body to adjust to and harder for you to maintain. You’ll likely be more successful over the long haul with a significant but sustainable calorie deficit. Diet Plan for a Calorie Deficit There’s no single best approach to cutting calories. In general, as long as you cut the calories and maintain a minimum amount, you will lose weight. One proven method is to replace all sugar-sweetened beverages with water, which has no calories. That means soda, sports drinks, energy drinks, sweetened waters and iced teas, and other high-calorie beverages. And don’t forget: Fruit juice contains abundant calories. A 6-ounce serving has 60 to 120 calories. Water not only keeps you hydrated. It may help you adapt to a lower-calorie diet. And keep in mind: When you feel hungry, it may actually be a sign you're thirsty, so reach for a glass of water rather than a caloric snack. The DASH and Mediterranean diets also show some success. These focus on eating:
These types of foods help you feel full longer, so you may be less likely to snack between meals. Just be sure to count your calories. Smaller portions can help, too, along with careful planning of your meals. A registered dietitian can help you figure out healthy ways to manage your portions and lower your daily calories. Other tips for maintaining a calorie deficit: Curb your simple carbs. White bread, white rice, regular pasta, and other low-fiber, high-carb foods won’t help you feel as full as high-fiber complex carbs like brown rice and other whole grains as well as whole fruits and vegetables. Go light at restaurants. Avoid large portions and high-fat menu offerings. Start with a small salad or a light soup to fill you up, so you don’t overdo it. Have fresh fruit or sorbet for dessert. Read food labels. Important info, like calorie counts and sugar content, can help guide your choices. Take time to compare. For example, some yogurts contain more sugar than others, even if they have less fat. Limit prepackaged meals. These often contain more fat, sugar, and salt than you want. Cooking meals made from whole foods puts you in greater control. What are the best calorie-deficit breakfast options? For your first meal of the day, focus on fiber and animal or plant protein, which both promote fullness. That may help you avoid snacking throughout the day. Here are a few examples:
Physical Activity for a Calorie DeficitResearch shows that diet changes alone raise your calorie deficit more easily than exercise alone. Still, you often get the best weight loss results if you combine diet changes with moderate to vigorous exercise. Shoot for 30 minutes or more on most days of the week, though 45 minutes or more may be better for keeping the weight off. You don’t have to do it all at once. You can do shorter bouts throughout the day. Think 10-minute spurts. For a brief moderate workout, take a walk around the block or do a bit of gardening or lawn mowing in the afternoon. Bike riding and swimming are also great options. More vigorous exercise includes running, heavy yard work, and aerobic dancing, like Zumba. Strength training also can help with weight loss. Make a plan to lift weights at least twice a week. You can use dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, resistance bands, exercise machines, and even your own body weight (think pushups and planks). Be sure to talk to your doctor before you start a new exercise program, particularly if you’re over 50, overweight, pregnant, or have other health conditions or are on certain medications, such as those that treat diabetes. And remember: Regular exercise goes a long way in protecting your health even if you don’t lose weight. It stops your body from packing on the pounds. And if you have lost weight, it helps you maintain your weight loss. Other Ways to Reach a Calorie Deficit Certain eating disorders, like binge eating disorder, can prevent you from achieving a calorie deficit to help with your efforts at healthy weight loss. Such disorders lead to or are caused by complex relations to food and eating, and treating them requires more than just addressing the way you eat. Different approaches work for different people. A therapist may be able to help you change thought patterns about food and exercise. Methods include:
Smartphone apps can help you watch your food intake and remind you to exercise, among other things. Potential Calorie Deficit RisksWhile a calorie deficit can help you achieve your weight loss goals, it can be harmful if you don’t do it in a healthy way. The risks include: Too little nutrition. If you cut too many calories or if you don’t eat the right foods, your body won’t get all the nutrients it needs. For example, if you don’t eat enough calcium-rich food, you put your bone health at risk. Low energy. As you cut calories, your body tries to conserve its energy stores by slowing your metabolism. This can make you feel cold and sluggish. It also can lead to constipation. Brain drain. Just like the rest of your body, your brain needs calories for energy. Cutting too many calories may impact your brain function. Gallstones. Severely restricting calories can lead to rapid weight loss, a risk factor for painful gallstones. Disordered eating. Dieting can make you focus too much on food and bring other negative feelings, which may lead to problematic eating and, potentially, an eating disorder. Can you build muscle in a calorie deficit? Yes. But keep in mind that you build muscle with strength training exercises. Such workouts require energy, which means calories, so you may need to maintain only a small deficit. That will allow you to burn fat while still building muscle. Also, your calorie needs will be greater on the days you work out, so you’ll have to plan for that. Finally, make sure you don’t skimp on muscle-building protein when you cut calories. Instead, reduce the calories you get from carbs and fats. Takeaways Maintaining a calorie deficit will lead to weight loss. But don’t go overboard. You will struggle to keep up with an oversized calorie deficit, and you will put your health at risk. Instead, aim for a reasonable deficit that allows you lose weight slowly but steadily.  According to the latest weight-loss research, 95% of dieters end up regaining the weight they lost within two years. Calorie-restricting diets are often successful at helping people lose weight, but they’re very unsuccessful at helping people maintain that weight loss. So what are you to do if you want to lose weight but avoid regaining that weight? As a psychologist who specializes in eating disorders, I recognize many diets and weight loss programs as problematic. But there are ways to make lifestyle changes that lead to better health for you, both physically and mentally. Understand how and why diets often fail When diets fail, it’s not simply because of a lack of willpower or moral character in the dieter. Our bodies are wired for survival, and they interpret less energy availability (through dieting) as a threat to survival. Therefore, our bodies react to calorie deprivation with countermeasures that include metabolic, hormonal and neurological changes that overwhelm willpower. Calorie restriction can lead to slower metabolism, increased hunger hormone (gherlin) and decreased satiety — or ‘feeling full’ — hormone (leptin). You not only feel hungrier, but you’re less likely to feel full or satisfied by what you eat. It tends to increase the mind’s preoccupation with food and increases activity in the brain’s reward center when we consume high-calorie foods. Some of us also have genetic risk factors to respond to food restriction with binge eating (eating a significantly large amount of food in one sitting, combined with the compulsion to keep eating). For some people, binge eating is the direct result of dieting. Not only does binge eating decrease self-worth and feelings of control over one’s life, but this response to a diet also often leads dieters to end up at a higher weight than before they started a diet. Ask yourself some questions before starting a diet I often advocate for individuals to meet with a registered dietitian to develop sustainable meal plans that fit their unique needs, instead of following a restrictive diet plan that’s not designed specifically for them. Nutrition isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” concept. Make small, sustainable changes that fit in with your individual life circumstances to protect your metabolism and lead to health improvements that you’re more likely to maintain. Try asking yourself these questions that Katie Chapmon, a registered dietitian and public speaker, suggests when a patient is starting a diet:
I discourage fad diets, especially those with severe calorie restrictions, such as liquid diets, because they rarely lead to sustainable weight loss. They more often lead to feelings of frustration and hopelessness. I also discourage getting nutritional advice from anyone without training in the science of nutrition — personal trainers and coaches, for example, typically haven’t received the kind of training that gives them a full understanding of how nutrients work in individuals’ bodies. Adopt healthy ways of thinking about food, diets and the roles they play in our bodies In my practice, I often use cognitive-behavioral therapy that reveals problematic thinking patterns. Patterns that create distress include all-or-nothing thinking, such as dividing food into strict “healthy” or “unhealthy” categories and thinking of food in extremes. Dieters engage in all-or-nothing thinking when they believe they’re “good” if they eat zero cookies (restricting) and “bad” when they eat a whole bag of cookies (bingeing). We encourage finding the gray area between those extremes; one serving of cookies, for example, is a more balanced way of allowing yourself to enjoy foods without bingeing. There are several concepts that can help reframe the way we think about diets, food and weight:
Prioritize your mental health when it comes to body image and weight loss Positive body image is a skill to practice. I often ask my patients what they appreciate about their body, and have them list activities they enjoy because of their body. A book I recommend to practice this skill is The Positive Body Image Workbook, from Ohio State alumna Nichole Wood-Barcalow, PhD, Ohio State professor Tracy Tylka, PhD, and psychologist Casey Judge, PhD. We all experience sadness and anxiety in our lives. But it’s time to seek help from a mental health professional when a mental health disorder occurs — when there’s significant distress and interference with functioning in everyday life (health, work, school, sports, relationships). For example, if you’re excessively tired, irritable and food-focused because of the way you’re eating, that might be a time to seek help. If your negative body image is interfering with dating or work performance, or you’re avoiding all exercise because of fear of others judging your body, a mental health professional can help you sort out these feelings and function more fully in everyday life. It’s definitely time to seek assistance from a mental health professional and dietitian if you have symptoms of an eating disorder. You can find immediate help and screen yourself for symptoms at nationaleatingdisorders.org, the National Eating Disorders Association website. Weight isn’t the only determinant of health, and particular weight ranges may not be realistic for everyone. But if you’d like to feel more at peace with your body, sustainable lifestyle changes and positive body image are important to your success. |
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