Longevity -  Healthy Ageing

What is Ageing? Some of us see ageing as a disease.. But is it so? Natural and graceful ageing is beautiful, but the problem is premature ageing.

Imagine a lil boy playing with a ball. He is one with the ball. Everything is a bliss for him. But as they grow older, stress and anxiety build up.

At around 30 you know and feel you are doing better than when you were in your 20’s, but when you get into 60’s and 70’s , we don’t have the joy of childhood. This is because physically our body is decaying.

Ageing can feel difficult because of the thought of tomorrow.

As long as there is life, there is ageing. From 0-13 years, our body is building resources.. After 14 – 15 years, you are utilising the resources that are build as a child.

Premature Ageing happens due to wear and tear. Same like how a car that is maintained well will last longer vs that which is not maintained, will fall apart faster, our body if maintained with care will last forever.

When physical and mental exertion is more than the Rest and Preservative state, then you start to age faster. When you know you have exerted more mentally and physically, then you need to ensure you also get enough rest, sleep and relaxation. But that doesn’t mean to be idle.

People who have a sedentary lifestyle with zero physical and mental activity, remember, this is stagnation. There is no life. You need to find the right balance of work and rest.

Lets now see the top 5 causes of Ageing:

1.       Diet:

Processed, excessive dieting, Alcohol, Smoking, Junk and stale food are highly notorious. When we eat food that is closer to nature, our body understands it and will be able to digest it well. Processed food causes a lot of stress on the body and liver. Your body does not recognize food that is produced in a factory.

Excessive fasting as well puts a lot of load on the body. It took years to build all the resources from the age 0-13 years. When you are utilising the resources after this age, but do not replenish it, you age faster. Eating wholesome cooked food. Raw food takes a lot of energy. Our digestive system will be working a lot when you have raw food. Remember, we have evolved into intelligent human beings after we started cooking food. This is because as our gut started consuming less energy, our brain power started increasing!!

Stale food is another culprit. Food is high in prana or life force for 48 hours after cooking. After that, breakdown or decaying happens. Post sunset, food becomes stale!

2.       Chemicals & Harsh Medical treatments:

Your body ages faster when you are exposed to a lot of harsh medical treatments like radiations, taking birth control pills and antibiotics regularly. This affects our immune system making our cells age!

3.       Lifestyle:

Lack of Sleep, Excessive exercise and over working is another reason to age prematurely.

4.       Mindset/ Mental Health: Stress, anxiety, depression, overthinking and all kinds of mental pressure leads to age our brain cells and affect us with memory loss, absent mindedness, brain fog etc which causes ageing.

5.       External Environment:  Harsh weather, Pollution, Smoke, Radiation etc are harmful for our body if we don’t take necessary precautions, making us look older than we are.

Now let’s check out few Habits that you can include to help you stay youthful:

Habit 1: Keep a clean body (Dinner before 7 PM or a light dinner like warm soup). Eat & Live as per the Circadian Rhythm (Largest Meal when the sun is at peak!, Dinner before sunset)

Habit 2: Eat living food, throw away dead food(anything from a factory is dead food). Food that is living, wholesome and plant based are best for our health and wellbeing. Fruits, grains, pulses and lots of veggies… Good hydration with enough water..

Habit 3: Movement. 30 mins of exercise everyday is essential to stay healthy. Daily moderate walking is good for a start.

Habit 4: Live a Purposeful life. Find a purpose or passion and spend sometime everyday doing it. It may be your inner strength and may be helpful to others.. this should be one of your reason to wake up everyday with a smile…

Habit 5: Sleep Like a Baby (Disconnect from screens 1 - 2 hrs before sleep) & Wake up between 4 AM – 6 AM. A feet massage before bed is great to sooth you.. reading a book, playing with children are all relaxing. when you sleep stress free with a smile you wake up with a fresh beautiful mind.. So for that to happened, you need to ensure to do less stimulating activities in the night atleast 2 hours before bed. Spend wauality family time, sip on a warm herbal tea, read a book or get a nice foot massage done your self.. its also great to have a warm shower before bed and do some meditation, listen to gentle relaxing music to wind down and prepare your bedroom suitable for sleep time with low lighting, ensure all lights are turned off before sleep…?

The early morning hours between 4-6, creates the most auspicious and ideal atmosphere for manifestation, meditation or any activities that may require peaceful time and space. There is minimal distraction around you, you can accomplish all the wonderful things you want to do. After a goodnight sleep, your mind is refreshed, calm and serene. Your mind is at the utmost pure state. Amount of Oxygen in the air is high. You can do great breathing exercises which helps with a stress free day ahead and a peaceful mind.

Habit 6: Let go of unresolved relationships (Listen, seek to understand any issues, talk it out or write a letter without any expectations, clearing your mind of the unresolved concern). Conflicts in your mind lead to diseases in the long run. Do a daily Prayer in any form, for the strength to overcome temptations, difficulties and doubts for the universe to provide you as per its will… Also, be thankful to the people who you have in your life.

Habit 7: Live In the mode of surrender – accepting things the way they are. Seeing Gods hand in everything that happens and realising, it is for a higher cause.

To include a new habit, the best method is to form habit stacking. Identify a current habit that you already do each day, and tell yourself, that the new habit will be done after your existing habit.

Eg: After I come back from work/school, take off my shoes, I will change into my workout clothes, so that you include the daily required exercise.

We all know how important our health is.. We have always heard the saying Health is Wealth. But how many of you really take care of your health? Now that you know how to stay healthy, After 3 weeks of practicing atleast some of these new habits, see how it has changed your life, your mindset and relationships with others. Hoping you can atleast implement few of these slowly into your routine for a happier and healthier YOU!!!