I can’t believe I am writing about healthy aging! Some days I feel like I am just 20 years old inside, and then I catch a glance in the mirror and realize that this is not quite true. In June I will celebrate 30 years in practice. How can this be?
I would like to talk about aging- healthy aging. We are all going to age (because what’s the alternative?), but we don’t need to “get old”. We posted a George Bernard Shaw quote up on the blackboard in our office, “You don’t stop laughing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop laughing.” Sorry Mr. Shaw, I think there is a little more to it.
Your genes will affect your aging to some extent. This is a part of one’s aging that is outside of our control. That doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel if your genetic make-up is not ideal. This is only one factor in our aging. I inherited prematurely graying hair (is it still called “premature” when you’re already 56 years old?). I also got the tendency for moles and age spots- all this from my father. That’s on the minus scale. However, he lived to be 96 years old. That’s on the plus. I can’t affect those things. I can make decisions that impact whether I look, act and feel old.
Let’s talk about looking old. The stooped and frail “posture of aging” is a give-away that the years have marched on. But we don’t need to succumb to this posture! There are exercises we teach in our office to improve and maintain posture. Unless you are actively working on your posture, it is deteriorating! There are products you can purchase to help your posture and habits you can change to slow the decline (no more text neck!) Our posture doesn’t just affect how we look, it affects our general health! And on a side note, we also can affect “looking old” by our wardrobe. I have given my wife and daughters permission to veto clothes that “age” me or are not flattering. It hurt my thrifty nature to get rid of perfectly good shirts that are too baggy for the current style of our “fitted shirt” society, but doing so took years off my appearance! I have given others permission to weigh in on details from telling me when it is time to stop wearing straight leg pants (never!) to getting rid of unruly ear hair (a sure sign of a man’s aging!)
Our physical health will impact whether we feel old. But too often we don’t do the work to maintain our physical health. Sometimes we think it is too late because we have passed a certain number of birthdays. My mother once complained about her knee to her doctor, and he said, “What do you expect? It’s 65 years old.” My mom didn’t accept that. She pointed out that the other knee was also 65 years old, and it was doing just fine! We can’t accept and expect our bodies to start breaking down because we are getting older. If our body is out of alignment, it will put more stress on certain joints and they will break down faster, but we should not leave it that way! A fine old automobile may require a little more maintenance to run well, but run well it can! Regular network care to help the nervous system to function optimally and withstand the effects of posture and stress on the body will make a huge difference. Exercise like Pilates and Yoga are important to help maintain muscle tone and flexibility. Surge training can help with modulating hormone levels in your body. (join us at our next Optimal Health workshop to learn about this)
We will also feel old when we are not getting proper nutrition. Fuel is important to make the engine work, and we require more protein as we reach a certain age. If our nutrition is not good, it will affect how we feel and how we age. When we are exposed to toxins in our food and environment, our liver and kidneys can become over-run in their ability to clear the toxins. Having a nutritional system with a cleanse/detox element can have a great impact on how you feel.
Recent research has shown that the war on aging is best aided by supporting the Telomere- part of the DNA which can break down with age, stress and toxins. Telomere support in products like Isagenesis can help with reversing the damage to the chromosomes and dramatically impact health. (again, join us at our Optimum Health workshop to learn more about this too).
Finally, as the saying goes, “age is a state of mind”. We decide if we will “act old” or “dance like no one is watching”. We stay young by re-inventing ourselves. True, I have been a chiropractor for 30 years, but what I have done for these 30 years continues to change and evolve. Developing new hobbies and taking on new projects is good for us. If you can be around younger people, that’s always good! We teach the preteen class at church, and being around 30 preteens keeps me young! (even though they think I’m ancient!)
We don’t just need to worry about adding years to our life, we need to keep adding life to our years. This can only happen when we value our health and make decisions to take care of our bodies. You’re only going to get one body, so make the most of it. Let’s age well together instead of getting old!