Have you ever had someone “volunteer” to tell you her age, expecting to hear a compliment from you? When you hear the actual digits, your jaw drops because you can’t believe that person looks so young…or so old!
When you attended your most recent class reunion, did you wonder how some classmates still looked so youthful and others looked ten or 15 years older? Why do some women look so much younger (or older) than their actual or chronological age? Let’s peel the layers back to get to the truth about youth.
According to Dr. Michael Roizen, author of Real Age, your chronological age is a fixed number, but your biological age may be different. It depends on a combination of factors including your genes and lifestyle choices. Dr. Roizen designed a systematic program that calculates the aging effect of more than 100 different health behaviors ranging from diet and medication to stress control and chronic smoking.
That’s all well and fine, but after you are equipped with this knowledge, what are you going to do about it? Do you have the determination to replace bad habits with healthier ones? Speaking for myself, the answer to that question just depends on what day of the week it is.
Smoking is a self-inflicted and avoidable health hazard. Even if it doesn’t kill you, it will make you older…starting with your very first cigarette. The signs are as plain as the new wrinkles on your face. Smoking decreases the amount of oxygen that gets to your cells, causing them to age faster than they should. Yet, of the 50 million Americans who smoke, 70 percent say they want to quit, but only three percent actually succeed. Smoking is a choice and every time you light up, you are choosing to age faster and shorten your life.
There are easier ways to slow the aging process. Did you know that by simply sleeping the recommended seven to eight hours a night, you can reduce your biological age by three years? How easy is that to control? (New parents are excluded from that question). But for the rest of us, just imagine -- with the proper amount of sleep, you could actually wake up younger!
Another easy way to fight the hands of time is to eat a low-fat, high-nutrient breakfast to power-start your day. This daily habit can reduce your biological age by another three years.
The easiest, most joyful way to stay younger longer is to adopt a dog! According to Dr. Roizen’s research, living with your beloved canine can shave one full year from your biological age. Or is that seven years, in dog years? Not to sound catty, but cat owners do not receive the same health benefit. That may be because if you have a dog, you walk a dog, so you exercise daily. Cats independently select their own exercise plans that may or may not include human beings.
For more committed ways to combat age, read every page of Dr. Roizen’s book, Real Age, and re-read it every few years to inspire yourself to maintain good health habits. But here’s something you can do right now to learn how to age-proof yourself. Take the Real Age Test online at www.RealAge.com. You’ll learn that factors from alcohol consumption, sexual habits, gum disease, stress, tomato paste, hormone replacement therapy, air pollution, aspirin, seat belts and even your parents all contribute to your “real age.” What you do with that knowledge may determine just how young you live.
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