10 Anti Aging Tips to Keep you Young
1. Quit Smoking 2.Train your Brain
Sorry to say, our brains naturally start slowing down at the cruelly young age of 30 (yes, 30). It used to be thought that this couldn’t be helped, but a barrage of new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to be faster and, in effect, younger. “Your brain is a learning machine,” says Michael Merzenich, PhD, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. Given the right tools, we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger. All that’s required is dedicated practice: exercises for the mind.
Merzenich has developed a computer-based training regimen to speed up how the brain processes information (positscience.com). Since much of the data we receive comes through speech, the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to improve both speed and accuracy.
The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly adaptable, or “plastic,” as neurologists put it. If you ask your brain to learn, it will learn. And it may speed up in the process.
To keep your brain young and supple, you can purchase software like Merzenich’s, or you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you: playing Ping-Pong or contract bridge, doing jigsaw puzzles, learning a new language or the tango, taking accordion lessons, building a kit airplane, mastering bonsai technique, discovering the subtleties of beer-brewing and, sure, relearning differential calculus.
“Anything that closely engages your focus and is strongly rewarding,” says Merzenich, will kick your brain into learning mode and necessarily notch it up. For his part, Merzenich, 64, has “4,000 hobbies,” including a wood shop and a vineyard.
One of the most important anti aging tips of all. If you smoke you need to stop. It’s as simple as that. You may not be able to completely reverse the damage smoking has done to your skin but you will stop the damage getting worse.
If you do choose to continue smoking be prepared for the consequences. Smoking accelerates skin aging by encouraging the destruction of collagen.
Reduced levels of collagen are one of the primary reasons your skin ages so a smoker’s skin ages much faster. The tell tale signs of “smoker’s face” are dull, greyish, dry skin, increased wrinkling around the eyes and puckering wrinkles around the mouth. Is this really what you want for your skin?
3. Protect Your Skin From The Sun
Sun damage is the number one enemy of younger looking skin. Getting a sun tan leads to photo aging, a process that produces deep wrinkles in leathery textured skin and will cause premature age spots.
Use a moisturizer combined with a broad spectrum sunscreen like Skinceuticals Daily Sun Defense. Have sunscreen always with you so you never get caught out. And if you want a tan – fake it.
4. Improve your diet - Feed Your body
Another path to a better brain is through your stomach. We’ve all heard about antioxidants as cancer fighters. Eating foods that contain these molecules, which neutralize harmful free radicals, may be especially good for your brain too. Free radicals have everything to do with breaking down the neurons in our brains. Many colorful fruits and vegetables are packed with antioxidants, as are some beans, whole grains, nuts and spices.
More important, though, is overall nutrition. You should eat right to avoid the diseases that modern flesh is heir to. High blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol all make life tough on your brain, says Carol Greenwood, PhD, a geriatric research scientist at the University of Toronto.
If your diet is heavy, then you’re probably also heavy. The same weight that burdens your legs on the stairs also burdens your brain for the witty reply or quick problem solving. The best things you can eat for your body, Greenwood notes, are also the best things you can eat for your brain. Your brain is in your body, after all.
For maximum antioxidant protection eat fresh vegetables, fruit and whole grains – all high in antioxidants. For younger looking skin make sure you get plenty of vitamins C and vitamin E. These two wonder vitamins work together to restore collagen in your skin. You also need plenty of omega 3 – an antioxidant must have. Omega 3′s maintain the structure and fluidity of cells and moisturize the skin from within – an essential part of your anti aging diet.
5. Take an anti aging supplement
Boost your antioxidant intake with a daily supplement. Go for one with the highest levels of the key vitamins and minerals for younger looking skin and all round health. Key anti aging supplements include: Omega 3, Ubiquinol, vitamin C, vitamin E.
Professor Karl Folkers discovered the chemical structure of CoQ10 back in 1958. Coenzyme Q10 is a fat-soluble nutrient also known as CoQ10, or ubiquinone. It is primarily found in the mitochondria, which are small bodies within cells that produce energy for the body. Apart from the important process that provides energy, CoQ10 also stabilizes cell membranes and acts as an antioxidant (a substance that reduces damage that results from oxygen, such as is caused by free radicals).
Japan’s premier CoQ10 researcher Dr. Mae, developed a new form of CoQ10 that’s 8 times more powerful than regular CoQ10.
Traditionally, all CoQ10 supplements use the active ingredient ubiquinone.
But once this gets into your system, your body must convert ubiquinone into another substance called ubiquinol.
Ubiquinol is the form of CoQ10 that works miracles. This new option provides 8 times higher absorption of CoQ10 and keeps your blood levels high over an extended period. And high blood levels are what you need to delay the effects of aging and the diseases they bring.
Not All Co Enzyme Q 10 is created Equal:
Scientists have found that the ubiquinol, the reduced form of Co Q 10, dramatically improves absorption of Co Q 10 in patients with severe heart failure compared to supplements of ubiquinone, the unreduced form of Co Q 10. In other findings, the high antioxidant status of ubiquinol has allowed it to significantly inhibit inflammation.
6. Add green tea to your day
Drinking green tea is an anti aging tip you may not have considered. Green tea is an amazing and natural anti aging food. Recent research findings show that taking sufficient green tea during the day can protect you from all forms of cancer, build your resistance to heart disease and dementia and contribute to your body’s ability to burn fat – especially abdominal fat.
7. Moisturize and exfoliate
The best anti aging skin care selected carefully and applied properly, will provide continous hydration – essential for mature skin – and protection from further free radical damage. Take time to choose a good anti aging moisturizer.
Make sure it has high levels of proven effective ingredients like retinol or peptides that work to reverse the aging process and reduce wrinkles. Follow a regular skin care regimen and exfoliate twice a week at least to ensure that fresh, live skin is soaking up moisture.
8. Exercise more - Move It or lose it
What’s the No. 1 thing you can do for your brain’s health? “The best advice I can give to keep your brain healthy and young is aerobic exercise,” says Donald Stuss, PhD, a neuropsychologist and director of the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto.
Mark McDaniel, PhD, professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, agrees, but adds, “I would suggest a combined program of aerobics, interval training and weight training. Studies show the best outcomes for those engaged in both types of exercise.”
As we age, our brain cells, called neurons, lose the tree-branch-like connections between them. These connections, or synapses, are essential to thought. Quite literally, over time, our brains lose their heft. The most striking brain research today is the strong evidence we now have that “exercise may forestall some kinds of mental decline,” notes McDaniel. It may even restore memory. Myriad animal studies have shown that, among other brain benefits, aerobic exercises and weight training increases capillary development in the brain, meaning more blood supply, more nutrients and — a big requirement for brain health — more oxygen.
The preeminent exercise and brain-health researcher in humans is Arthur Kramer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In a dozen studies over the past few years, with titles such as “Aerobic Fitness Reduces Brain Tissue Loss in Aging Humans,” Kramer and his colleagues have proved two critical findings: Fit people have sharper brains, and people who are out of shape, but then get into shape, sharpen up their brains. This second finding is vital. There’s no question that working out makes you smarter, and it does so, Kramer notes, at all stages of life. Just as important, exercise staves off heart disease, obesity, diabetes and other maladies that increase the risk of brain problems as we age.
Exercise will give your more energy, build muscle mass, increase blood flow to your skin, help prevent high blood pressure, reduce anxiety, strengthen bones and raise your metabolic rate so you lose more weight more quickly.
Exercise is good for the skin – increasing the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your skin cells.
So if you haven’t already – put exercise at the heart of your anti aging regimen.
9.Get your beauty sleep & reduce your stress today
Getting enough sleep is one of the most important habits for anyone over the age of 40. When you sleep your body releases growth hormone which stimulates cell turnover. Your skin will suffer if you don’t get the beauty sleep you need. If you’ve had a stressful day things will be even worse – stress hormones suppress the immune system and accelerate the aging process. So stress less and sleep soundly.
10. Drink more water
You need to hydrate your skin from within – skin cells need water just like every part of your body including your brain. Without sufficient water your skin will dehydrate and essential anti aging nutrients cannot be delivered to your system. If you want to look younger you need to make sure water is an essential part of your anti aging regimen.
So – that’s it – ten great anti aging tips to help you look younger and feel great. And now for the difficult bit – all you need to do is follow them!
Exercising ones brain will keep it young
Exercising and playing golf will increase gray matter in regions involved on motor learning and in dorsal stream of the visual cortex.
Studies have shown that exercising in specific motor skills increased volumes of gray and white matter. Frequent training aids memory and concentration and increased the right parieto-occipital junction. ( Eye–hand coordination (also known as hand–eye coordination) is the coordinated control of eye movement with hand movement, and the processing of visual input to guide reaching and grasping along with the use of proprioception of the hands to guide the eyes. In simple terms, eye-hand coordination involves the coordinated vision and hand movement to execute a task. It has been studied in activities as diverse as tea making, the movement of solid objects such as wooden blocks, sporting performance, music reading, online first-person computer gaming, and copy-typing. It is a way of performing everyday tasks and in its absence most people would be unable to carry out even the simplest of actions such as picking up a book from a table or playing a video game. While it is recognized by the term hand–eye coordination, without exception medical references assign it the title of eye–hand coordination
Neuroscience research provides increased understanding of how behavior and specific activities change the brain.
This type of research underscores the concept of neuroplasticity--that our brains change in response to how it is used on a daily basis.
One area of research in neuroplasticity is the effect of specific cognitive and motor behavior on brain structure. A novel study published in The Journal of Neuroscience examined the effect of golf practice on brain structure. Bezzola and colleagues from Switzerland and Germany in this study proposed that golf practice is likely to effect the following brain regions based on their known functions:
- Dorsal stream--development of visuomotor skills
- Subcortical and cerebellar regions--motor learning
- Frontal association areas--cognitive aspects of skill development
The brain imaging in this study was completed using magnetic resonance imaging or MRI. This technique allows for examination of small changes in brain gray and white matter volumes.
The golf practice intervention group demonstrated significant brain volume increases in a variety of brain regions including the:
- ventral premotor cortex
- several regions in the parietal cortex including the inferior parietal cortex (area demonstrated in the attached Brain Tutor HD screen shot)
- parietal-occipital junction
The golfers in the study took up to five months to complete the 40 hours of practice. Interestingly, those who completed their practice in the least number of days showed the greatest increase in brain volumes in at the parietal occipital junction.
The authors note their study is important because it shows brain neuroplasticity occurs not just in strictly controlled motor exercise protocols but in the real world of structured leisure activity like golf. The note structured leisure exercise activities "may be considered an additional therapeutic setting in the process of neuro-rehabilitation.
This study also suggests middle-aged individuals have a new excuse for taking up a new physical activity like golf. If their spouse objects to heading out to the golf course to practice, a scientific response might be: "Honey, I'm just going out to work out my brain parietal-occipital junction".
SUMMARY:
GET YOUR BUTS DOWN TO VIBES FITNESS FITZROY TODAY AND WE WILL ASSIST YOU IN YOUR ANTI AGING PROCESS KEEP YOU YOUNG & FIT AND WORK OUT YOUR BRAIN PARIETAL-OCCIPITAL JUNCTION :)
http://www.simplyantiaging.com/51/anti-aging-tips-top-ten/
http://www.rd.com/health/7-anti-aging-tips-to-keep-your-brain-young/
http://brainposts.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-golf-practice-changes-brain.html
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