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 before..."? It's often said by people who are already on the road to old age, the old ones (more men than women) and sometimes even those who are still in an age group, think of those in their sixties, today 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 risk becoming increasingly "a country for old men"But we've also often talked about 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 concentrate the really useful questions, with answers not to 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 offer you some very simple but valuable rules for a sustainable lifestyle. There are five, and so they all fit in one hand. Really easy.

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The first, but we do not put them in this position in order of importance but only in a typical sequence of sustainable lifestyles, concerns powerThere's no point beating around the bush: the older you get, the less you need to eat. The more you grow, and if you like, the older you get, the more it becomes. a lifestyle inspired by a healthy diet is fundamental, for example, the Mediterranean diet. Fruits, vegetables, fish and white meat (without overdoing it), olive oil, legumes. Moderate portions, regular meals, sufficient 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 and simple diet. And since human beings live by habits, as you get older, this diet will seem more and more natural. That's why it's truly essential to start it, at least in its basic outline, while young or very young.

Moreover, some small sacrifices at the table, even with the necessary exceptions (a special evening, a family celebration, a special occasion), can be mitigated by good company. Spending time together, sharing food happily with friends and relatives, with people you truly love, always leads to waste less at the tableThat is, eating healthily, happily, and thus avoiding the serious metabolic-damaging mistake of gulping everything down too quickly or eating 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 habit-related factor: once you lose the habit of walking, and as you age, it's difficult to regain it. However, as an elderly person, or even in the company of elderly 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 activity and/or work 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 your entire physical and mental state change. 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. the bicycle: it goes well, very well, but without effort from breath-taking races that can put aged and tired hearts at risk.

• Quality sleep

• Laugh and smile

Third rule: you have to laugh and smileMuch 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, the sorrows, inevitable with advancing age and the loss of loved ones or well-known ones, on the threshold of old age can be managed 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 to better absorb even the hardest hits.

• To love and be loved

Fourth rule: love and be loved. Without limits. With the maximum of generosityThis 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 softens, 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 is the best medicine against depression and loneliness. Yes, loneliness. The real malaise of elderly people and old in the age of life extension is exactly this: finding yourself 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.