top five tips to living younger

As I get older and feel younger and better than I ever have, it becomes very clear that ageing is a disease that one can try to avoid given the right tools. Engaging in a healthy lifestyle can make all the difference on how the years add up and take their toll on your body.

Here are my top 5 tips to help you navigate the years with ease to live as vibrantly and as energetically as possible:

1) Stay Alkaline …our cells require a clean alkaline environment to sustain life. Therefore, the pH of our blood, saliva, and extracellular fluid must be alkaline to nourish the tissues and clean the environment in and around our cells. A cell living in an acidic environment will begin to deteriorate, and during the process can damage other surrounding cells. Before 2010, no significant research existed to counter cellular deterioration. However, a growing body of research has documented that not only is acidosis a real phenomenon but is known to contribute to a wide range of diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, kidney stones. The body does need alkaline and acid forming foods, but alkaline -forming foods should dominate. This means consuming more raw food on a daily basis. A plant-based diet with a strong focus on fruits and raw veggies on a daily basis will promote an alkaline environment

2) Muscle up …. Muscle is a metabolic organ, as well as a locomotion organ, meaning that it is a major contributor to burning energy and if muscle mass declines, levels of inflammation can increase, ability to regulate blood sugar becomes more difficult, hormonal function declines. All this is affected by the quality of your muscle. You can be 65 and be the same weight as when you were 35 and look the same, but on the inside your muscle can be marbleized fat and that has enormous consequences for ageing …heat disease, cancer, dementia, etc. Muscle begins to decline as early as in our 30’s. You can restore muscle at any age but not as fully. Therefore, it is very important to strength train and keep active as early as possible. Sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and function is not a normal part of ageing.

3) Introduce some micro stressors …Hormesis. Recently, the hormesis concept has been receiving increasing attention in the field of aging research. The term comes from the Greek word meaning to excite. The proponents of this theory claim that tiny doses of toxins in the body act in a completely different fashion from large doses and may even be beneficial. In other words, what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger! Exercise, for example, puts stress on our cells which generates free radicals. But we do know that over time, the body adapts and eventually develops a more efficient system. Another good example of a positive stressor is hot/cold therapy. Although going for an ice-cold bath plunge after a hot sauna is challenging, this type of stress is very beneficial to blood flow, cardiovascular health, and efficiency of oxygen transport to muscles.

4) Calorie Restriction ……. giving your body a break from eating, as in intermittent fasting, is an easy logical way to stay younger. Giving your body time off from digesting food offers your liver more time to process all the work it must do. This provides you with more energy and vitality to get things done and not feel bloated, sluggish, and tired. The best time to restrict those calories is continuing your fast from sleep. Aim for 13-16 hours after your dinner to fast before your first meal.

5) Keep the rhythm of cortisol by staying connected to the rise and fall of the sun. When we disrupt that rhythm by staying up too late at night, especially when we stay wired to our computers etc., we lose that rhythm and the opportunity for deep sleep and the release of growth hormones. We can adapt for a short period of time with late nights and added stress, but if this continues for too long, our cells slow down and ageing accelerates. Aim to get to bed by 10:00 PM.

Our bodies are very intelligent. Our cells know what to do and what they need for optimal performance. Be smart and pay attention to signs and signals that your body is expressing. It is never too late to “add life to our years and years to your life”.