10 Secrets of Healthy Aging

The 10 secrets of healthy aging (they are really not secrets):

1. Mythical age or “perfect age”-If you did not know your birth date, how old would you think you are? (mine is 28)

2. Diet-should be balanced with a 40% complex cards, 30 % proteins, 30% Fat, distribution in your daily diet. “Eat to Live, not live to eat.” Always be mindful of your genetics, what did your parents eat and how did it affect them? Remember, you cannot change your genetics but you can control them through lifestyle discipline.

3. Exercise-a good aerobic exercise (keeping the heart rate up for a minimum of 20-30 minutes, 3-4 times per week) is plenty. Anything above that is for something other than exercise, i.e. Ironman training. This is also a good time to release anger or go into exercise meditation. Anger is part of life but must be released in some healthy form, exercise is an excellent way.

4. Mental exercise-this involves spiritual and being true to yourself, sense of urgency, having a hero or two, a mentor, a role model, etc.

5. Active sex life-WOW thought I’d never get to this one. Just read some interesting thoughts on this by Napoleon Hill. He says, “That sex desire is the most powerful of human desires. When driven by this desire, men/women develop keenness of imagination, courage, will-power, persistence, and creative ability unknown to them at other times. “He also calls it, “the mystery of sex transmutation.” Obviously a deep subject, but we must move on.

6. Balance in life activities or moderation in all that we do-this is probably one of the hardest to maintain since we all want to do what we enjoy and put off what we don’t. But in this process we tend to get very narrow. Balancing the EGO should be in this category, since we can achieve many great things with our ego, but letting it go wild can create great damage in our lives.

7. Passing through life transitions positively-“ask not what another 10 years can do TO your life, but what it can FOR your life.” AS we go through the 10 year increments of life we must view them as what can be accomplished with our new experience and insight. We must be willing to go out of our COMFORT ZONE to achieve our goals and not view aging as growing old. There is a big difference. Or learn to make Plan B plan A, if necessary.

8. Prevent holding grudges-be able to forgive and forget, mend bridges, don’t burn them. Do not let yourself be pulled into others control dramas that you have no control over and in the end can cause lasting hard feelings.

9. Passion-not to be confused with #5, but simply a passion for life and living life to its’ fullest. Our passion can be directed towards our love life, our vocation, and our avocation. Passion is a must!!

10. Embrace adversity-my favorite scripture comes from the book of Job. WOW what a story! Job embraced adversity, overcame it, and moved forward with it. One thing that is interesting to do is to go to the last chapter and the last few verses and you see that through his willingness to embrace his adversity and advance through it he was blessed by God with double what he had in the beginning.

Now you know the “secrets” of healthy aging, which really are not secrets at all. There are probably 20 secrets, if you know more that should be added go for it!!!

Mike Greer