Improving Emotional & Mental Health: An Anti-Aging Technique
In their quest for achieving a better and longer life, relatively few people pay much attention to overall brain health. The brain is a key organ of the body and it stands to reason that enhanced mental health should play an important role in slowing down or reversing aging. Slowing down your brain’s aging process and optimizing brain function as you grow older involves both emotional and mental factors:
1. Brain fitness: most people are aware of the importance of maintaining optimal mental fitness by exercising the brain (changing hobbies, engaging in mentally challenging games to keep your brain active etc)
2. High blood pressure can increase cognitive impairment (loss of brain function) over time. Studies have shown that persons with healthy blood pressure levels experience less age-related thinking impairment than those with hypertension. While many of us will experience a rise in blood pressure levels with age, controlling this health condition is critical not only to protect our hearts and arteries and to reduce the risk of strokes, but also to slow down or prevent cognitive impairment, one of the principal signs of aging.
3. Consumed in moderation, alcohol can enhance cognitive ability. A British study published in 2007 found that people who consumed no more than two alcoholic drinks a day had higher cognitive abilities than those who drank heavily, or did not drink any alcohol at all. To optimize the protective effect of alcohol on your brain, drink no more than two glasses of alcohol daily, preferably red wine, which has the added advantage of containing Resveratrol, an antioxidant that helps to protect cells from damage by free radicals.
4. One of the first signs of mental aging and cognitive impairment is memory loss. While there is no guaranteed remedy for age-related memory loss, it is perfectly possible to slow down the process. In addition to enhancing mental fitness by keeping your brain active and engaged, eating fish oils (or taking mercury-free Omega 3 fatty acid supplements) can help repair damage to the cells in the brain. Essential fatty acid (EFA) omega-3 also helps improve blood flow and reduce inflammation and a number of studies report that Omega 3 can reduce memory loss by keeping the brain cells from swelling.
While mental health mainly concerns the ability to think clearly and logically, emotional health also affects you physically and can play an important role in anti-aging:
1. Stress, and the way you react to stressful situations, is a chief component of emotional health. The antithesis of stress, relaxation, can actually stimulate your brain. Having a positive attitude towards aging increases your chances of living longer. Stress hormones can lead to a number of health complications. A positive attitude may mean that you have an increased will to live, meaning that you will manage your health issues better, but it also means that you do not need to cope with the stress of aging. Worrying, anxiety and violent reactions to stressful situations can speed up the aging process. Patience is a virtue often attributed to older people – try to live up to this belief. If you feel that you need help to reduce stress levels and relax, there are many options available to you, including yoga classes, special breathing techniques and transcendental meditation.
2. Social support and positive relationships are powerful anti-aging factors that can add years to your life. Some researchers believe that when we are in good relationships our bodies produce chemicals that are beneficial to our health, thus promoting longevity. People who are lonely and isolated react in much the same way as those who suffer from stress. Particularly for women, brain aging risk factors seem to be relationship-focused. Independent women who enjoy good relationships and who have access to social support have a lower rate of age-related thinking impairment. In one study, a group of older women who did not enjoy secure relationships proved to have lower blood immune functions than another group who had secure and positive relationship networks. Scientists believe this is related to increased stress levels caused by isolation and loneliness. Of course, people with good relationships have more social support and are therefore more likely to get help when in need of medical assistance.
3. Nevertheless, emotional health in itself does appear to play a major role in longevity. People who maintain positive social connections over the years experience slower rates of memory loss with age. The reasons for this are not clear, but one aspect could be that interacting with others entails exercising your brain. In a study on the link between loneliness and the risk of contracting Alzheimer’s disease, researches found that a person who perceives himself as useful to others is not only less likely to get the disease, but may actually live longer. The time you spend with friends and family and the effort you put into building positive relationships will enhance your emotional health and protect your brain against aging.
Anti-aging should not be focused solely on looking young and beautiful. Our society has been trained to believe that being young means being happy. If you let yourself believe this, you will pave the way to stress and worry about aging. And just for the record, it may not be true that young people are the happiest people. A survey conducted by sociologists since 1972, the “General Social Survey”, actually shows that happiness increases with age!
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