Aging Well
Make joyfulness a habit. If we can choose to be joyful, it will become a powerful habit in our lives.
Invest time with family and friends. Relationships strengthen brain connections. Cultivate friendships of all ages and stages of life so we can be open to seeing things from different perspectives.
Practice an attitude of gratitude. Consistently grateful people are happier and healthier. I call it a “gratitude sandwich”. Start your day with gratitude for the general parts of your life (your health, your work, your home, your family) and end your day with gratitude for the specific moments of the day where you can be grateful.
Try not to take things personally. Things that people say and do usually aren’t usually about us.
Live life with purpose and passion. We live each day to its fullest when we can live according to our values.
Try not to make assumptions. Ask questions to avoid misunderstanding. This will prevent conflict, drama, and sadness.
Find humor. Laughter increases antibodies to fight disease and infection, as well as decreases the stress hormone cortisol.
Forgive. Holding a grudge is toxic to our bodies and minds.
Celebrate birthdays. Let’s count our days by smiles, not tears; count our age by friends, not years. Growing old is a privilege.
Let’s decrease the worrying. Worry puts our bodies in fight-or-flight response. Worriers are more likely to experience irritable bowel syndrome, sleeplessness, fatigue, aches and pains, and depression. When we worry about the past, we live in regret and when we worry about the future, we live with anticipatory anxiety.
Listen to good music. Music can improve memory, elevated your mood, and enhance your creativity and productivity.
Remember to breathe. Sometimes we go through the entire day and wonder, “have I been holding my breathe all day?” Deep breathing can expand lung volume and make us more calm and focused.
Keep moving. It doesn’t matter as much what we do, we just need to move.
Let’s dance. Dance boosts brain health, improves balance and agility, can add social connections and eventually burns calories.
Sit, stand and walk with good posture. Let’s mimic the puffed out chests of peacocks, opera singers and ballet dancers.
Hydrate daily. Drinking adequate water (not caffeinated beverages or juices) is important for the body and especially the brain to function efficiently.
Let’s take care of our eyes and ears. Good vision and hearing are important to living life to the fullest. We need all of our sensory inputs to keeping the brain working well.
Get the sleep our bodies and brains need. Sleep is essential for efficient brain function and a healthy immune system. The sleep phase of the day is when the brain is clearing particles that can increase our risk for dementia.
Contemplate. We can gain calm, focus better and discover insights when we take 15 minutes/day to think about something we just read or heard.
Stretch. Stretching can prevent injuries, improve flexibility and promote muscle and joint health.
Learn new things. We can make new connections in our brain at any age or stage in life.
Avoid falls. We don’t want to be fearful of falling but do need to practice techniques at every age to prevent falling.