Danny Davis
Growing Old Gracefully
If you want to grow old gracefully and enjoy the later years of your life, there is a lot you can do now and later to ensure a quality of life in your golden years.
There are real secrets to living longer and happier, and we’ve compiled 100 things you can do to improve the aging process and live longer.
No matter how old you are now, there is always something you can do to improve your longevity and help ease the aging process.
100 Things To Do To Improve Aging
1| Eat well
Eating healthy foods is one of the most critical factors to impact your health as you age. Your diet should be comprised almost solely of healthy vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, lean proteins, and healthy fats. Boost your longevity and enhance your health with a good diet.
2| Know your genes
It’s important to have a firm grasp on the risk factors you inherited from your family. Get to know your family history so you can stay on top of any health issues that you are likely to encounter.
3| Walk as much as you can
Walking is a healthy activity you can do nearly your entire life. Those who walk regularly live longer and remain stronger in their later years. Walking is also great for your mental health. Protect your joints from damage by engaging in this low-impact activity daily.
4| Don’t wait to address health issues
If you have a problem, see your doctor and take care of health problems while they are manageable. Waiting can mean more significant issues and can cause you to age quickly and lose strength or mobility.
5| Keep your blood sugar in check
Your blood glucose level is a good indicator of your overall health profile. If it’s too high, chances are you are making unhealthy diet and lifestyle choices. Avoid problems like diabetes and heart disease by monitoring and keeping your blood sugar low.
6| Lift weights
Keeping your muscles strong is essential when you are young as well as when you are older. Strong muscles keep your bones strong, which is crucial when you are older. Training with weights, resistance bands, or using your own bodyweight as resistance are all excellent at any age.
7| Watch your weight
Maintaining a healthy body weight is crucial for controlling your risk for many types of chronic health problems, including cardiovascular disease, which is the number one cause of preventable death in the US.
8| Remain active
No matter your age, stave off physical and mental problems by remaining active. Those who live the longest remain active their entire lives, both physically and mentally.
9| Carefree is not always the best choice
If you are persistent, organized, and conscientious, you are likely to live longer than your footloose and carefree peers. Those with a more careful approach often make better choices and live longer lives.
10| Get vaccinated
As you age, you want to protect yourself from preventable diseases like the flu and shingles. While these disorders are not so difficult for younger people to cope with, as you age, these diseases can be fatal or become chronic. Even staying up on your tetanus shot is important as you age, as minor infections can lead to serious complications when you are older.
11| Tend to your teeth
Taking care of your teeth when you are younger can help you live longer and have a more enjoyable life. Bad dental hygiene leads to many significant health issues as you age, including raising your risk of dementia and stroke.
12| Know the signs
Be sure you are aware of the warning signs for significant cardiovascular events like stroke and heart attack. Knowing what to look for in yourself and others can help you get help more quickly and prevent potentially fatal complications.
13| Stay safe
When you avoid risky behaviors and activities, you are more likely to reach old age and enjoy a healthier life.
14| Eat your chocolate
Dark chocolate, which is high in cacao, has compounds known to improve cognition. The polyphenols in this decadent food are also good for your heart. One small piece of chocolate with more than 70% cacao is a good choice as you age.
15| Stay away from stress
Chronic stress takes a toll on your body over time. It can even shorten your lifespan. Find ways to reduce your stress or develop coping strategies for lowering your stress now to help you live longer and be healthier.
16| Live like a foreigner
Many cultures in the world are recognized for their long lifespans. Countries like Greece, Japan, and Singapore have been studied to learn more about why their citizens tend to live longer. The diets in these countries are primarily comprised of whole foods, lots of fruits and vegetables, very little meat or processed foods, and only occasional indulgences.
17| Drink coffee each morning
One cup of coffee each day can reduce your risk of serious health issues like diabetes, promote your long-term cognitive health, and provide your heart with a dose of antioxidant and polyphenols. Just one cup, though, or the caffeine can undo all those positive effects.
18| Protect your skin
When you are out in the sun for prolonged periods, be sure to wear sunscreen and protect your head and face from the sun’s harsh rays. Not only will this slow the signs of aging on your skin but also protect you from skin cancer, a leading form of the disease in older people.
19| Practice good hand washing
So many diseases can be prevented simply by washing your hands. Start when you are young to develop this habit, and it will pay off in many rewards as you get older.
20| Get checked regularly
Regular health screenings are critical as you age. Stay on top of your colon, heart, breast, and overall health by seeing your doctor once a year and getting screened at the recommended intervals.
21| Live overseas
There are many countries where life expectancy is much higher than the US. Consider moving to one of these areas to enjoy more longevity, a better diet, and a change in scenery, which is great for your mind.
22| Watch your medications
While some medicines prescribed by your doctor may be very necessary, many people take over-the-counter and other drugs for minor problems or for purposes other than intended by the manufacturer. Take only what you need for just as long as you need it.
23| Have a fast
Those who fast regularly enjoy tremendous health benefits. Intermittent fasting promotes healthy immune system function and stabilizes blood sugar levels. Fasting can also provide clarity to your thoughts and emotions.
24| Get your Vitamin D
Spending just 15 minutes in the sun each day exposes you to enough rays for your body to produce the Vitamin D you need to be healthy. This nutrient is crucial for your cognitive function and immunity, so extend your life by getting your Vitamin D each day.
25| Engage your passions
Whatever it is you truly love to do, be sure it has a place in your life. Passions help you set dreams for your life, and they motivate you to work hard to achieve them. Being fulfilled and engaging passions are the #1 reasons centenarians give for living over 100 years old. Do what you love, and you’ll never regret it.
26| Start good habits young
No matter your age right now, it’s never too late to start healthy habits. The earlier you start with the habits of a healthy diet and exercise as well as a focus on your emotional and mental wellness, the longer you’ll live and the healthier you’ll be.
27| Maintain a healthy weight
Those extra pounds can really add up when it comes to risk factors for early death. Shed the extra weight to help keep your heart, mind, and other systems robust and functioning correctly.
28| Have sex
Being intimate with someone you love is an important part of forming and maintaining healthy relationships. Sex is also good for your heart, helps you sleep better, and can extend your life.
29| Eat from the sea
The fatty acids found in cold water fish, like salmon, cod, and herring, are necessary for your brain and heart health. Eat plenty of omega-3 fatty acids, like those found in fish, to remain healthy
30| Eat like a Greek
Those who live in the Mediterranean live longer than people from other regions, mostly due to the diet of that area. Olive oil, fresh foods, fish, and plenty of fresh vegetables prepared simply reduces your risk for heart disease and many of the cancers that lead to premature death.
31| Get involved
Becoming active in your community can help you develop a support system, gives you a purpose in life, and connects you to the place where you live. Volunteer, attend local events, support local businesses, and get to know your neighbors.
32| Drink in moderation
A small serving of alcohol each day can help reduce your risk for several chronic illnesses, and drinking red wine can benefit your brain, as well. Stick to moderate drinking, though, as overindulgence can lead to serious problems.
33| Drink your tea
Green tea is rich in antioxidants, which help stave off the effects of aging. Black tea is also good for your heart health. Sip a cup a day to reap all their benefits.
34| Keep working
Those who retire early are more likely to die younger, as working provides a purpose and satisfaction to life as you age. If you retire early, be sure you have a focus and purpose that drive your daily life, or you may find your health and wellness in decline.
35| Eat more blues and purples
Foods that are naturally blue and purple tend to be high in polyphenols and other important antioxidants that help you as you age. Blueberries, red wine, currants, purple cabbage, eggplant, concord grapes, blackberries, and even purple carrots are rich in vital, anti-aging nutrients your body needs.
36| Use the stairs
Just developing this simple habit in life can help you age better. Taking the stairs helps you maintain strength and stamina, burns fat, and keeps your heart in good condition.
37| Eat whole fruits and vegetables
The benefits of these plants are in their whole form, not as a juice. Get all the nutrients of these wonderful foods along with the fiber your body needs.
38| Stay connected to friends
Close friendships are crucial to living a long, happy life. A strong social network offers you assistance when you need it, support for the hard times, and can help you make healthier choices throughout your life. Friendships in your later years are particularly crucial.
39| Savor your food
Eating slowing allows you to enjoy your food and teaches you to recognize when you are full faster. Eating slowly leads to lower weight, too.
40| Love the arts
Take advantage of the resources in your community to appreciate the creativity in our world. Go to a museum, concert, or play, take an art class, or join a book club. Learning to love beautiful things is important for emotional wellness.
41| Ban the bubbles
Soda, even diet varieties, cause many health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, high blood sugar, and elevated blood pressure.
42| The calendar doesn’t matter
If you have the right mindset about aging, it doesn’t matter how many candles are on your cake this year. Focus on building a healthy life that includes strong social connections, and it won’t matter how old you are.
43| Eat like the Japanese
As a country with a long life expectancy, Japan’s diet could teach us a lot. Change your diet to include lots of fresh vegetables, small amounts of fresh fish, sweet potatoes, and turmeric to reap the anti-aging benefits of this culture.
44| Ditch the meat
Vegetarians live longer than those who eat meat. Eating a diet that consists of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, and healthy fats leads to a longer, healthier life.
45| Think about dying, now and then
When you are aware of your own mortality, you are more likely to make good choices for your health. Don’t wallow in thoughts of death, but a healthy understanding that we will all die someday is a good thing for keeping you alive.
46| Get spicy
Spicy foods release endorphins in your body when you eat them. These hormones reduce inflammation and pain, which can have positive effects on your body. Long-term consumption of spicy foods could have benefits for your health and longevity.
47| Get a new hobby
Whether you pick up one you haven’t done in years or try something new, hobbies are excellent for reducing stress and keeping you active. Joining a sports team or club is also a great way to meet new people.
48| Drink your water
Adequate hydration is crucial for so much in your body, including healthy kidneys, lowering your risk of cancer, and improved cognition. Drink at least 64 ounces of water daily to keep you hydrated and healthy throughout your life.
49| Be playful
Your neural pathways stay engaged and thrive with novelty. Playing games as you age is a great way to keep your mind active and learning, which increases the likelihood that you will stave off dementia in your later years.
50| Snack on some nuts
Nuts make an excellent choice for snacks, as they are high in protein, healthy fats, vitamins, and antioxidants, which help combat aging.
51| Practice yoga
Yoga improves flexibility and keeps your muscles strong, which is important as you age. Yoga also reduces stress and anxiety, which benefits your physical and emotional well-being, too.
52| Dance
Stay in shape as you age with dancing. You’ll enjoy the benefits of music, which is terrific for your outlook and emotional health, as well as the physical and social benefits of being active with others.
53| Focus on balance
Having good balance is vital throughout your life, especially as you age. Balance helps you prevent injuries and falls, which are a risk in older age. Tai chi and yoga are excellent strategies for developing balance, and you can do these practices at any age.
54| Avoid contact sports
The trauma you sustain from sports like boxing, football, and hockey can shorten your life and make aging very difficult. Live longer and healthier by avoiding this type of damage to your body and your brain.
55| Give back
Continuing to have a purpose in life after retirement will help you live longer. One way to do that is to volunteer in your community. Giving back keeps you active and also provides you with meaning, both of which help you live longer.
56| Make friends with younger people
No matter your age, when your friends are younger, their energy and vitality influence you. Your mental health and cognition will benefit from spending time with those who are younger, particularly in your later years.
57| Get educated
Those with more education tend to live longer and live healthier lives. Stay in school and get your degree to help ensure a long life ahead.
58| Spend time with family
Having strong social connections, especially with your family, is essential for healthy social and emotional wellness. Your family, whether by blood or chosen in life, provide you with needed support and comfort throughout your life, so maintain those bonds.
59| Be organized
If you want your mind to stay sharp and your memory to serve you for many years, get organized. Calendars, notes, to-do lists, and reminders are all excellent tools you should learn to use early. As you age, these habits will help you stay focused and can support your memory as it fades later in life.
60| Be a life-long learner
Continuing to learn throughout your life can help prevent dementia and other cognitive disorders in your later years. You can learn new skills, about new topics, or take up new hobbies, but keep your brain active by continuing to learn regularly.
61| Be resilient
While having a positive attitude is helpful, it is more important to be resilient. Having a too-optimistic outlook can keep you from bouncing back after setbacks. Focus on solving the problem.
62| Share your life with someone
Those who have long-time partners are more likely to live longer, happier, lives. Finding someone you trust, and love may be challenging for some, but it is worth it in the end.
63| Learn a new language
Even learning a few new words in another language has a positive effect on your brain. Learning a language is a wonderful exercise for your mind, and learning a language can spawn new interests in other cultures and places.
64| Have a pet
Taking care of an animal can be work, but it is also very rewarding. Pets can keep blood pressure in check as well as offer companionship. Having a pet is terrific at any age but especially when you are older.
65| Hold hands
Touching others is vital for your health and well-being. Touching someone’s skin for at least ten minutes each day has positive effects on your blood pressure and heart rate, plus it lifts your spirits.
66| Maintain your memory
Keeping your mind sharp as you age is essential. Learn techniques to improve and bolster your memory as you age, including repeating information and attaching newly learned items to older memories.
67| Go on vacation
If you learn to enjoy your leisure time when you are younger, you will have a better balance to your life and likely will live longer.
68| Sleep
Sacrificing sleep for other things in your life will mean giving up your health and well-being. Lack of sleep influences your heart health, your cognition, and your emotional well-being. Be sure you develop good sleep habits early and maintain these throughout your life.
69| Go keto
When you are older, you may want to try a ketogenic diet, which uses fats for energy instead of glucose. This type of diet is especially good for supporting brain function, which can help reduce your risk for dementia in later years.
70| Read every day
Reading keeps your brain active, teaches you new things, and promotes healthy habits throughout your life, which can help you live longer. Readers are more likely to live longer than non-readers for many reasons.
71| Plant something
Growing plants is an excellent way to stay active. Gardening helps you feed yourself and provides you with time outside in the sunshine. Indoor plants are excellent for purifying the air, and they give you something for which to care.
72| Get steamy
Those who regularly use a sauna, like the Finnish, live longer than those who don’t. The high-heat and detoxifying effects of a sauna can reduce your risk for heart disease, which promotes longevity.
73| Say “no” to TV
Those who spend the most time in front of the TV are more likely to have health problems. Enjoying a program or two every few days is okay, but many hours sitting with no activity is not good for your health.
74| Listen to music
Your brain function and focus improve when you listen to music. Music can help you exercise longer and for higher intensities, too.
75| Be an advocate for yourself
When it some to your health and well-being, no one knows what you need better than you. Be sure you are sticking up for your needs when it comes to dealing with doctors, insurance companies, and others. If something is not right, keep fighting until you feel better.
76| Sing
Those who sing experience lower stress and emotional benefits from listening to music. If you sing in a group, you will also enjoy many social benefits, as well.
77| Get outside
Being outdoors is not only a great way to remain active throughout your life, but nature also enhances your mood, lowers stress and blood pressure, and improves your overall health and well-being. Living near green spaces has been proven to have numerous psychological benefits, too.
78| Meditate regularly
Meditation practice is an excellent tool to promote your mental and emotional well-being. Meditation helps lower stress, reduces pain, improves memory, and enhances your outlook in life.
79| Take a nap
Short naps, up to 30 minutes, can be very refreshing for your brain and can improve your cardiovascular health, as well.
80| Express yourself
Burying your feelings inside can lead to emotional as well as physical problems. Instead of denying how you feel, learn to acknowledge and express your emotions in healthy ways. Develop healthy strategies for coping with strong feelings.
81| Laugh
Laughter really is a wonderful medicine. Laughing lowers blood pressure, improves your outlook, and helps you deal with the stress of daily life. Watch funny videos, play amusing games, read humorous texts, or find other ways to laugh regularly.
82| Stay vibrant
Those who remain productive and vibrant are most likely to live longer. Hard work leads to fulfillment and satisfaction, which can help you live longer. Don’t shy away from hard work, even as you age.
83| Stay safe at home
If you want to live longer, there are simple things you can do to make your home safer and protect yourself. Make sure all your smoke detectors are working, install a carbon monoxide detector, and have your home tested for things like lead and radon, which can harm your health. Take precautions using dangerous equipment or chemicals, and always think of safety to prevent accidents.
84| Be grateful
Acknowledging your daily gratitude can help you appreciate your life and its many gifts. Being grateful for what you have will help you be happier and live longer.
85| Seek out the silver lining
Even in a bad situation, it’s always helpful to remember that it could be worse. Challenges in life are what give us strength and teach us valuable lessons, too.
86| Be positive
A positive mental outlook can help you in many situations in life. Realistic optimism can help you set and achieve more goals, provide you with the motivation to overcome obstacles and failures, and help you form more meaningful relationships.
87| Embrace getting older
When you have a positive attitude about aging, you can live longer. Those who walk through life dreading getting older are actually less likely to do so.
88| Stick to your beliefs
Those with strong beliefs live longer than those without any, as beliefs provide you with a sense of purpose in life. Your beliefs do not have to be religious but instead can be focused on spirituality or other types of ideology.
89| Deal with challenges as they come
Ignoring problems never makes them go away, so develop a habit of confronting and systematically tackling the challenges in your life. Take it one step at a time, and find something each day you can do to move forward, but don’t give up and don’t ignore your problems if you want to live a longer, happier life.
90| Welcome challenges
To keep your mind active and to combat against diseases of aging, like dementia, challenge your brain regularly. Learning new skills, attempting new feats, and trying new things helps you develop the self-discipline that can be used to focus your attention and stay alert.
91| Set goals
Throughout your life, you should be setting new goals, and you need to reevaluate your priorities and reassess what you want in life. Setting goals helps you develop effective cognitive habits that will benefit you as you age.
92| Focus on the process
Life is a journey, and focusing only on the destination can lead to missed opportunities. You have something to learn or love each day you are here, so spend your time focusing on that.
93| Today is a new day
No matter what happened the day before, each day of your life is a new chance to make better choices that will help you age better and live longer. Focus on making good choices today.
94| Practice acceptance
Accepting what you cannot change in life can help you reduce your stress and instead focus on all those areas where you do have control. Learning to face your limitations is healthy and helpful your outlook and cognition.
95| Write it down
As you age, it can be therapeutic to write your life story. Consider writing your memoirs or sharing some of your life experiences through some other medium. Even if you don’t share it with others, it can be a helpful tool to keep your mind active.
96| Skip dairy
Cow’s milk and products made from it have been linked to a number of major health issues, include heart disease, cancer, and other chronic problems. Those cultures that eat the least amount of dairy have the longest life expectancy, so ditch the dairy if you want to live longer.
97| Quit smoking
There are so many reasons to quit. Bottom line If you want to live longer and age better, you need to stop smoking.
98| Take care of your heart
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of preventable death in the US. Taking care of your heart should be a priority at any age. Controlling your weight, watching your diet, and eliminating risk factors like high blood pressure and diabetes can help you stay healthy for longer.
99| Eat your spinach
The iron, Vitamin C, and other nutrients found in this leafy green can help preserve your muscles as you age as well as promote healthy gut bacteria, which are essential for your immunity.
100| Get help when you need it
Dealing with mental health issues is crucial for living a long, happy life. Get help if you are dealing with depression, anxiety, or other mental health disorders.
