Without a doubt, everyone will experience aging. It’s a biological process that begins at birth, and it is inevitable. But how we age is not. We are redefining aging, celebrating it as a time of new opportunities, deeper connections, and ongoing learning. It’s a time where we are actively engaging life with joy and purpose.
Healthy aging is not just about keeping disease and disability at bay. While we’d all like to stay as healthy and functional as possible, we can age successfully and gracefully even with less-than-optimal health.
WHAT IS RESILIENCE?
Resilience is the ability to “bounce back” from an adverse event or experience, large or small. This is influenced by biological factors (including genetics) as well as psychological ones, and both forms of resilience can be cultivated. As people with higher levels of biological and psychological resilience tend to experience improved health and quality of life as they age, this heightens its importance for better aging.
Health is created from physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and energetic balance. But balance is not static. It requires constant adjustment in response to changes and challenges in your inner and outer worlds - and often changes throughout your lifetime. Resilience helps you bounce back and regain balance. Here are 8 simple strategies to help you cultivate resilience so you can handle whatever challenges come your way in a way that helps you thrive.
8 Easy Tips for Better Aging Starts with RESILIENCE
By: Roberta Kline MD
Tip #1: EAT RIGHT
Focus on fresh whole foods, with an emphasis on colorful vegetables and low-sugar fruits, fish, poultry, nuts, non-wheat whole grains, and cold-pressed olive oil. Adding herbs and spices boosts your food power. Avoid fried foods, processed red meat, trans-fats, and saturated fats, sugars, sweets, and baked goods; swapping sugar substitutes may be worse than sugars, so avoid those too.
Aim for 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous exercises, such as walking, swimming, biking, dancing, tennis, strength training, gardening, or yoga. House cleaning, gardening, and yard work count too! Ideally, it’s something that you enjoy. Moving throughout the day is just as important. If you have a sedentary job, make sure to get up and move at least 10 minutes every hour if you can.
Playing chess, solving crossword puzzles, reading books, and learning a new language or skill are examples of brain-boosting activities. Mixing up your daily routine is another great way to increase cognitive resilience. This can include: exploring new neighborhoods or trying out a new coffee shop.
Identify stressors in your life and reduce or eliminate the ones you can control, and have strategies to manage the impact of the ones you can’t. Tai chi, meditation, music, art, yoga and other exercise, being in nature, finding moments of awe, experiencing joy and laughter - these are just some of the ways that can help you cultivate resilience.
Aim for going to bed by 10 pm, and getting 7-8 hours of restful sleep nightly. Even one night of insomnia or getting inadequate sleep can have an impact on your resilience. If you snore or don’t feel refreshed when you wake up in the morning, consider getting checked for a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea.
Having strong social connections - whether a few or many - along with having meaning in our lives, can be one of the most powerful strategies. This does not include social media or other virtual interactions - there is something about the brain that needs interaction with the actual person or people.
Heart disease, diabetes, chronic pain, and other chronic health issues can reduce your resilience. Staying proactive in managing all aspects of your health can help increase your resilience and minimize their impact.
Having a sense of purpose and connection to a greater meaning is a fundamental human need. So is joy. Identify things that bring you joy. Find something that gives you a reason to be excited about the day. Purpose doesn’t necessarily mean a grand vision - it can be big or small. Whether it’s through your work, your family, or your community, it’s important to feel you are loved and valued and are contributing to something that is meaningful to you.
Aim for incorporating at least 4-5 of these strategies. They each build on each other, so the more you of these you do, the more resilience you’ll have and the more your health will benefit. Every bit counts. As you take steps to improve your resilience, you’ll also be supporting your overall health of mind, body and spirit - feeling better and having more energy to keep doing the things you love! Start small. But you don’t have to feel overwhelmed - incorporating just one of them into your daily habits helps. Start with the change that feels the easiest first. Then build on your success to incorporate all 10 if you can!
Implementing these strategies can greatly improve your success in developing resilience for better aging.
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