How to age well: from food to exercise

How many times have you heard this phrase: "I want to live a long time, but only if I can do so in good conditions. Otherwise, I hope to die beforehand..."? It's often said by people already on the road to old age, older people (more so men than women), and sometimes even by those still in a certain age bracket—think of those in their sixties—that today is considered distinct and distant from old age.

I'll spare you the data and scientific studies. In this article from Non sprecare, for example, you'll find updates on the age at which people today can be considered elderly and then old. The source, as you'll notice, is the National Association of Geriatricians, so you can absolutely trust it. Just as you know all about the current demographic curve: people are getting older, and not by a little; life is getting longer, and not by a little. And this isn't bad news, unless you have a contempt for the greatest and most beautiful things you've been given. If anything, the real epochal problem, in Western societies and particularly in countries like Italy, is that we're having fewer and fewer children and are increasingly at risk of becoming "a country for old men ." But we've also often discussed this on the website and through social media with our Non sprecare community.

Let's get to the point, then. And let's try to focus the truly useful questions , with answers that shouldn't be wasted, on two aspects. How to age well? And also: How to age as late as possible? We've done a lot of research and reading, and listened to many authoritative opinions on the topic, and in a nutshell, we can give you some very simple, yet valuable, rules for sustainable lifestyles. There are five of them , so they all fit in one box. Really easy.

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The first, but we're not placing them in this order of importance but rather in a typical sequence of sustainable lifestyles, concerns nutrition . There's no point beating around the bush: the older you get, the less you need to eat. The older you get, and if you like, the older you get, the more essential a lifestyle inspired by a healthy diet becomes, such as the Mediterranean diet. Fruit, vegetables, fish and white meat (without overdoing it), olive oil, legumes. Moderate portions, regular meals, just enough wine, and a very high limit (near zero) on spirits. It's not an obstacle course or a life of hardship and sacrifice. Just a healthy, simple diet. And since we live by habits, as you get older, this diet will seem increasingly natural. That's why it's truly essential to start it, at least in its essentials, while you're young or very young.

Moreover, even small sacrifices at the table, even with the appropriate exceptions (a special evening, a family celebration, a special occasion), can be mitigated by good company . Enjoying time together, sharing food joyfully with friends and family, with people you truly care about, always leads to less waste at the table . That is, eating healthily, joyfully, and therefore also avoiding the serious mistake, due to its effects on the metabolism, of gulping everything down too quickly, or of portions we can't even finish.

• Physical Activity

From sitting at the table to getting up for a walk. Walking is beneficial at any age, but for aging people, it becomes crucial. If nothing else, it's always due to a habitual factor: once you've lost the habit of walking, and as you age, it's difficult to regain it. However, as an older person, or even in the company of older people, you must always have this compass: walk simply, wherever and however possible. Even just for a stroll in a park, or to go to the supermarket. Or at home, alternating reading or any study or work activity with short, decisive walks. If you then add a minimum of physical activity, even just a quarter of an hour a day, you'll see how your entire physical and mental state changes. And radically. Instead, avoid extreme sports for older people. It makes no sense, for example, to become a competitive skier after you're over 50, and it's also very risky. Like cycling: it's good, very good, but without the exhausting, race-like efforts that can put aging and tired hearts at risk.

• Quality sleep

• Laugh and smile

Third rule: you have to laugh and smile . Much more than when you're young or very young, at least three times as much. Good humor helps everything in your body and your mood, and at a certain age it must become a compass for life. You've already given in to the torments of, for example, building a professional life or maintaining a family balance. You can relax. And look at things with a certain detachment, a mixture of wisdom and Calvinist light-heartedness, which has nothing to do with superficiality. Life as it progresses, among the many things it unfortunately causes you to lose, also allows you to gain others: detachment from useless worries. Worries that after a certain age truly become a pure waste of one's person.

Even the pain and sorrows that are inevitable with advancing age and the loss of loved ones or well-known acquaintances, on the threshold of old age, can be handled with greater ease and wisdom. They are part of life, of its twists and turns, and of what, sooner or later, happens to everyone. The wisdom of age can help us better absorb even the hardest blows.

• To love and be loved

Fourth rule: love and be loved . Without limits. With the utmost generosity . This is where the heart and the heartbeat come into play, which in reality never dies, not even when one is truly old. Love creates life, not just lengthens it. And it always makes it more beautiful, fuller, lighter. Even when it is truly heavy and hard. Love unites, binds, and connects. It tempers, especially when accompanied by the breath of mercy that extinguishes resentment and hatred, any harm and wrong suffered. It is love, both that received and that given, that emerges as the best medicine against depression and loneliness. Yes, loneliness . The true discomfort of the elderly in the age of life extension is precisely this: finding themselves surrounded by everyone (even through TV and the web) and by no one.

• Stimulate passions and curiosity

• Optimism of the will

Finally, the fifth rule: never retreat an inch from an effort inspired by the optimism of willpower. And wanting, as we age, means never giving up on passions, curiosities, and desires. Even the most banal. A sweet treat, a kiss, a caress, a smile. Never, for any reason, extinguish the fire that is naturally within us; always keep a flame of hope burning. And remember that life, especially if you manage to never waste even a fragment of it, always offers surprises. At any age.

What are the factors of aging?

• The genetic component concerns pre-programmed aging, inherent in our cells
• The natural component concerns reduced physical activity
• Factors of aging include poor mental activity and androgen deficiency (in both sexes)
• Other factors may include age-related neuromuscular damage, insulin resistance, and diabetes, chronic stress, chronic inflammation.

Read also:

• Grandma Angela, 98, crochets on the streets of Rome to combat boredom and loneliness.
• At 93 years old and possessing an enviable grit. The story of Grandma Irma, who flew to Kenya to offer her help to the children in an orphanage (photo)
• Grandparents "on loan": volunteers as babysitters for the poorest and most needy families.