The human body is amazing. First of all, two humans can make a new human together. A baby grows inside a woman, with the body taking care of the growing, incubation, and the arrival of the newborn. Even after birth, the female body reacts to what’s needed to nurture the child. The magic, however, is not limited to women only. Every human body has the ability to heal itself when injured, granted the injury isn’t too severe.
Cuts will heal, and broken bones can mend. If you catch the flu, the body will be able to fight it off by raising your temperature and letting good enzymes work. The body has amazing mechanisms such as yawning, which is a way for the body to get more oxygen into the body when you forget to breathe regularly, for example, when you’re tired. The human body is an amazingly ingenious engineered construct, delivered by mother nature.
Photo by Nicolas Cool on Unsplash
Impossible is Nothing
When you are younger, it seems that nothing is impossible. When you’re a baby, you seem to be able to new dazzling things every day. You learn to crawl and sit up. You then take your first steps. You get taller each day, which doesn’t stop until you are far into your adolescent years. You grow stronger each day, being able to not only walk but run. You might even decide to climb or do other feats of strength. The possibilities seem limitless when it comes to you and your body.
Time’s Ticking
But your body is not forever. Remember when you were younger, and you could stay up all night reading books and watching films? The next day you could wake up bright and early and not think any of it. Or what about going on a night out and have a few drinks? The next day you could be in the gym early hours without breaking a sweat.
When you get older, all of that might become a bit harder. A night staying up will come at a price, which usually involves sleeping till noon, or at least going to bed early the next day. A night out drinking is a whole different ball game, most likely involving a whole weekend recovering with lots of water and the curtains closed.
Clearly, your body has limitations, and as you grow older, these will show up more and more. And before you book yourself a knee replacement surgery, you might be able to stave off the wheels of time for a bit. It only takes a bit of care and effort to make sure you can do all the things you do now also in the later stages of your life. So, if you want to be able to play with your grandchildren or even great-grandchildren, it might be useful to consider the following things.
Exercise Daily
Make sure you exercise daily. It doesn’t need to be something high impact and ultimately pushing things to the max, actually as you get older it might be wiser to slow it down a bit. A brisk daily walk after dinner, some light cycling or a light jog will make sure your muscles get regular exercise and won’t deteriorate as quickly. A 30-minute walk for 5 days a week will do the trick to keep on top of your exercise requirements. If you like routine, that’s perfect as you can pick a park or trail to be frequent often. If you loathe routine, just put your earphones in and let your feet take you wherever.
Keeping Bones Strong
Bone density is key for Osteoporosis, the cause for fragile bones, affects around 22 million women and 5.5 million men aged between 50-84 years of age in Europe. You can get medicine for it, but it won’t cure it. The best way to deal with this is by making sure your bones are in the best state ever.
This is done by strengthening your bones and increase your bone density. Stair- climbing, cross-training machines, that brisk walk each day will all help maintain your bone health. Again, avoid high impact exercise, but training that increases bone density will help.
Healthy Food
Diet is key as well for a healthy life. What you need is some good brain food, especially considering the risks of getting dementia when you’re older. What you’re looking for is fish, olive oil, fruit, vegetables, and omega-3 fatty acids. You might have noticed there is not a single fast-food item on her.
It might sound incredibly dull, but just eating well, with lots of greens and all the good fats is just better for you. Talking about dementia, there has been some recent research looking at the link between this disease and gum disease. So it might be wise to take good care of teeth and gums as well.
Laughter for Life
Make sure you laugh as much as you can. There is research saying that laughter is beneficial to a longer life. It can protect the heart by increasing blood flow, decrease stress hormones, and bump up infection-fighting antibodies. All the good stuff you will want for a healthy life. Get those endorphins flowing by signing up to something like a dance class. You’ll not only enjoy yourself, but you will also boost your energy and increase your life expectancy. Allow yourself to laugh and try to make the people around you laugh as well! This is why people love to surround themselves with people who they have a good time with.
So, remember to keep exercising, to keep those muscles strong and those bones dense. Work it into your routine, and before you know, it’s second nature. Eat healthily and maintain good oral hygiene. Cut out all the junk food and make sure to eat loads of fish and greens. Take care of your gums, like properly, and don’t forget to keep your yearly dental check-ups. Better yet, make that twice a year. Floss, rinse and avoid sweets. And laugh, laugh a lot and laugh with the people you love. And maybe not for the sake of your health, just for the sake of laughing itself, which is plenty enough.
