By Well Hello Spring! We are approaching the rebirth of a new Spring season. Most of us look forward to more sun, blue skies, green leaves again, crocus and daffodils year after year, ageless, and revitalizing. Whatever our age, it’s a time for fresh new looks, new ideas, activities, and adventures in our life. While we can’t stop our biological clock, we can make changes to de-age ourselves. It’s all about self care. Take care of yourself inside and out for a more ageless, youthful you.
Be Open To Change
Young people look forward to change in their lives—newness. Take a lesson and shuffle your schedule to create the feeling of newness in your day. Maybe you have a few habits to change. You can do this. Your brain is resilient, relatively plastic, malleable, able to adapt and change, create new pathways to break old habits and develop better new ones.
Dress Younger
It’s never been easier to dress younger and afford something new. Speaking to men and women, refresh your classic clothes with tops in youthful colors. For some people, lighter pastel colors will do that and are going to be featured a lot this Spring. Bold jewel colors work for others, adding excitement in emerald green, purple, royal blue, and red.
Looser style lines and shapes that flow freely are young at heart. A silky Hawaiian or floral print camp shirt qualifies for men. For women, flared skirts, dresses, and sleeves are effortlessly modern, cool, and stylish. Soft youthful ruffles are showing up on women’s clothes for Spring. Some fall romantically around the neck or shoulders, down the front, or diagonally across the skirt.
Look Younger
Skin will stay smoother, younger looking longer with the morning application of a lightweight moisturizing lotion that contains sunscreen. Every night before bed, wash your face with a clear mild soap, rinse thoroughly, and pat nearly dry. Then slather on the lotion and wait a few minutes for the water to evaporate before you hit your pillow. The younger your get into this habit, the better, but it’s never too late to start.
Eat Younger
Good foods are ageless and a great way to add something new in your life. Try brown rice, quinoa, chia and pumpkin seeds, kiwi, mango, more nuts, olives, avocado, and dates. Eat all your meals and snacks within 11 to 12 hours per day. Consider two main meals and two low-cal snacks per day. Cut your calories annually after 40. Eat a plant-based diet of whole grains, vegetables, beans or lentils, and fruits, with less fat, salt, and sugar. Include a variety of colors in your meal to insure the variety of nutrients you need. Limit fish or chicken to three meals a week. Try to resist, saving sweets for dessert once a week.
Fit To Function
Your body is designed to move. That means sitting less and getting three to four hours of exercise a week, adding years to your life. Do some stretches every morning and a few exercises that move your legs, arms, hands, and fingers as well as waist/hip rotations. That will get and keep you moving, generally without pain during the day. Choose the type of exercise(s) you enjoy the most so you’ll stick with it. Walking is the simplest form of exercise for every body. Try Nordic walking or using walking sticks to maintain better balance.
Get Up and Get Out
To feel younger, you’ve got to go places. Speaking to young moms, take whatever you need with you and stay several hours. Babies actually nap well in a stroller while literally strolling through a wonderful museum. Youngsters nap on the floor at any hour at the library. Being out and away one day makes you revel at just being home the next.
Look through your local newspaper in print or online to discover what is going on in your area and get involved. Go to a play. Better yet, be in a play. Go to a sports event. Better yet, take up a sport for yourself. If employed, schedule half day Saturday or your day off for chores and get into nature the other half. Get yourself to church on Sunday then visit others. Science reports you’ll feel younger, healthier, happier, and live longer.
Learn Something New
Science proves it keeps your brain young to learn a new language. In addition to French, Spanish, or Chinese, try learning the language of clothes—and I can teach you that one. Celebrate the challenge of learning something new. You might learn photography, how to play an instrument, or how to cut hair then cut all the kids hair in the neighborhood. My father-in-law learned how to make hook rugs, then gave them away just for the fun of it. I still have a cheery one on the floor in my laundry-craft room that still makes me happy to think of him.
Learn how to use your smart phone to connect with people and places. Locate and connect with past acquaintances, old friends, and a few new friends. Plan for a trip and make all your reservations through your smart phone. When you get there, guide your way safely through new streets—even the Underground of London like we did last week. What a wonderful source of security.
Sleep Smart
After a purposeful day get all the rest you need, we know this. But if you wake up in the middle of the night, sometimes wired, get up and get busy doing something you love best. Call it creative insomnia. You might bake bread, carve wood, write a story, or investigate your family history. Put your time and energy to work for a couple of hours then go back to bed. Sleep whenever you can. Our ancestors didn’t punch a time clock. Science supports the fact that cave men slept for shorter periods of time, sun up or sun down. If it works for you, sleep four or five hours at night, an hour mid-morning, and two or three hours in the afternoon. It all adds up.
Reality Check
In reality it’s only teen agers who want to get older. And it’s only the lucky ones who live to get older. If you think 40, 50, or 60 is old, get over it! It’s totally true, you’re as young as you feel and it’s a lot about attitude. Ask anyone who is 40 or 50 if they feel middle-aged. “No!” Are you old at 60? “Not!” If you take care of yourself, 60 is the new 30.
At 70 and 80 if we are well, we are way younger in our heads. Parents didn’t tell us about that one, but it’s true. So its our bodies and our brains we need to work at keeping ageless, young, and filled with a sense of newness. And Hey, when you’re over 80, they call us Super-Agers. So welcome the coming of another ageless Spring and many more.