Photo: Aldrich, Beatrice (uploader)
Want to help ensure you live a long time without having to make much effort? Neurologist Dr. Julia Jones says making simple changes to your daily routine is even more beneficial than hitting the gym. These are her tips to boost longevity with some easy tweaks.
- Delay breakfast - Leaving 16 hours between dinner and breakfast can help give your cells the time they need to do essential repair work, reducing your risk of everything from cancer to type 2 diabetes. You can easily achieve this fasting window by just delaying breakfast a few times a week.
- Think 30-a-week - Research shows that people with a higher diversity of gut bacteria have a reduced risk of illness and one way to get it is by eating a variety of foods. Jones recommends trying to eat 30 different fruits and vegetables each week to boost gut diversity. Eating probiotics, like kombucha, yogurt and sauerkraut can also help keep your gut healthy.
- Get out of breath - If you’re not already in the habit of working out, find ways to be more physically active in your day-to-day routine. Things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking further away and walking faster can help you get a short burst of exercise.
- Make a list - Writing down all those tasks you need to do can help declutter your mind and reduce stress. And when you actually finish those tasks and get to cross them off the list, the feel-good chemical dopamine will be released, giving you a sweet reward in the form of a natural buzz.
- Take your brain for a walk - “Brains have been shown to shrink as waistlines grow,” Jones explains. So take care of your brain and make sure it’s getting good blood supply and calming signals by walking outside every day.
- Do daily push-ups - Loss of muscle tissue raises the risk of falls and fractures and can lower the effectiveness of the immune system. To prevent that decline, do slow-motion moves that work your large muscles, like push-ups or squats
- Beat stress - The release of stress chemicals can damage brain tissues and negatively affect gut bacteria, so find stress-relieving techniques that help you, like yoga, listening to music and meditation.
Source: The Sun