Authored by Jennifer McGregor
There are a few reasons we may feel older than our age. The primary reason for a lot of people feeling older is how they feel physically. They may have lower energy levels, less muscle strength, and an increase in the number of aches and pains.
Another reason can be fewer opportunities to socialize. This can happen when we retire and are no longer part of a work family. And many times, societal stereotypes regarding anyone who isn’t young feed into our feelings of being past our prime.
None of this is healthy for us, and we should not allow it to go on, making us feel less and less relevant or out of step with the rest of the world. There are things you can start doing right now to feel your age again.
Exercise
This one is a biggie. It can have the biggest impact on how we both look and feel. The younger we look, the more we like what we see in the mirror. And when we look younger, people naturally treat us as a younger person, which translates into our feeling much better about ourselves.
Exercise doesn’t just make us feel younger, we’re adding years to our lives and life to our years. You will want to design an exercise routine that combines aerobics, strength and balance, and flexibility. You can alternate days for each, with one day taking a power walk or jogging for 30-60 minutes, bicycling, swimming, regular games of basketball with friends, or taking an aerobics workout class. The next day, you can work on strength training, either with weighted machines at the gym or using resistance bands at home. And the day after that, you might want to take yoga or Tai Chi classes either in a studio or using videos you find online.
Diet
Eating the wrong foods can not only be bad for us physically, making us feel old and tired, but they can also affect our mood and even bring on feelings of depression. Too often, when we think about the food we’re eating, we’re concerned with taste and calories. It’s easy to neglect the nutritional value of our food when we believe we can get what we need from vitamins. Experts agree that supplements cannot compete with food when it comes to nutrients. The nutrients we get from supplements don’t seem to have that significant effect on our health.
It can be well worth your time and resources to contact a professional nutritionist/dietitian. They can use your health history, along with your food preferences and food preparation skills, to design a healthy diet plan for you. If you’re doing that on your own, you can find an online nutrition calculator to help you design a meal plan that gives you the nutrients you need to feel your best.
And avoid certain foods that affect your mood in a negative way. Those include processed and fried foods, artificial sweeteners, refined sugars, and industrial seed oils like corn, sunflower, soybean, and palm.
Your Environment
Often, as we get older, we get comfortable with our furnishings because we enjoy the comfort and security we feel with the familiar. The downside of that, though, is that we can also feel like we’re in a rut. If your home is fresh and new, you feel fresh and new being in it. You don’t have to ditch everything you own, but you can definitely change things out gradually. You’ll want to keep your home reflective of your personality, but it’s also important to add some new touches to keep it updated and fresh.
At the same time, it’s important to clear out accumulated clutter. Nothing says “old” like a house full of items that you’ve been collecting that you no longer have use for. Clutter makes us feel stressed, anxious, and even depressed. Start going room by room and sorting items into boxes to either donate, sell, toss, or put in storage. Then give everything a thorough cleaning. Using natural products like vinegar and lemon or other DIY cleaning products will make your home smell clean and not like chemicals. You’re only as old as you feel is an age-old expression for a reason, it’s true. To feel younger, take steps to get healthier, like exercising, eating a more nutritious diet, and making your home fresh and clean. Before you know it, you may actually feel younger than your years.
COACH EDDIE ANDRIST 