Anti-ageing tips II

Continuing from anti aging tips I, here are some more ways you can improve your overall health and thus contribute to a greater sense of wellbeing and help reverse the effects of ageing.

Mental and emotional health
Mental and emotional health is essential for aiding anti aging. Exercise may help increase serotonin levels in the brain, decrease levels of stress hormones that promote anxiety and improve both mood and self-esteem.

Immunity for anti aging
A range of studies has shown that people who exercise regularly experience fewer infections than their sedentary counterparts and, when they do get sick, recover much faster. This further shows the potentials of exercise as an anti aging tool. Walking is a great way to strengthen the immune system by decreasing levels of stress hormones. It also helps to boost levels of immune cells.

Stress management
Exercise is an effective means of stress relief which in turn can create anti aging results. High levels of stress hormones literally make you age faster and put you at an increased risk of degenerative conditions, from dementia and heart disease through to depression and weight gain. Regular exercise will help you feel more resilient, physically, mentally and emotionally.

Walking for anti aging
Walking can be an effective anti aging exercise. Walking helps promote healthy aging — as long as you do it vigorously enough. Walking is gentle on your joints and combines the benefits of weight bearing and cardio exercise in one.

Walking tips
To achieve anti aging results through walking try the following tips:

• Aim for moderate intensity when walking.
• Try to sustain it for at least 30 minutes or longer.
• To increase the intensity of your walk, try to include some hills or stairs.
• Modify your pace — try to include some brisker walking to get your heart rate up.
• To increase the strength and resistance benefits of your walk, try using some light wrist and ankle weights.
• Use a pedometer to monitor your walking each day.

Exercise for anti aging
Walking is an effective and simple anti aging exercise. However, there are other forms of exercise that also have a range of anti aging results. These can be incorporated into your exercise regime to ensure overall fitness.

Aerobic fitness: This includes any activity that increases your heart rate. Aerobic exercise has a number of anti aging benefits and works to increase circulation, tone the heart muscle and improve the elasticity of your arteries, which reduces blood pressure.

Strengthening: Aerobic activity such as walking, cycling and climbing stairs aids anti aging by building stronger bones and muscles and maintaining strength. Specific strength training or resistance exercises include resistance machines, free weights and Pilates. Weights and resistance workouts should be sustained for 30 minutes two to three times a week.

Balance: Exercise such as tai chi, martial arts and yoga promote good balance, which can prevent falls and injuries as you age by improving your body’s ability to compensate quickly for sudden changes such as bumps, twists and skids.

Flexibility: Stretching helps to promote flexibility, which is important for good posture and minimising aches and pains associated with aging due to stiff, tight muscles and joints. Yoga, Pilates, tai chi and general stretching exercises are all effective forms.

Forty-five minutes of moderate-intensity exercise can have many anti aging benefits. Exercising at high intensity for 90 minutes or more, however, can be detrimental to health and can cause damage to tissues. Pushing your body to the limit for too long during exercise also increases the production of free radicals and suppresses the function of the immune system.