Eliza Hartley
We all want to be healthy and preserve our vitality for as long as possible, right?
Why is it then that so many people don’t exercise often enough, eat rubbish on a daily basis, and generally don’t look after themselves?
Well, a lot of it has to do with all the different requirements placed upon us, from long working hours to childcare and house chores.
But no matter how busy your life is, remember that you are the only one who can change it. You have power. Use it to your advantage.
Let’s dive in!
People who don’t lose their vitality as they age usually adopt these 7 daily habits.
1) They move their bodies (however slowly)
You don’t have to be a professional weightlifter or an athlete to remain healthy and fit.
You don’t even have to go to the gym or jog every morning at 6 AM if that’s not how you roll.
While movement is vital to vitality (I couldn’t resist), something as simple as walking can absolutely turn your life around.
According to experts, “Walking is an exercise that meets this aerobic component and is associated with improving high blood pressure and body mass index, and lowering the risk of diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular disease, and early death. Walking speed, duration, and frequency can be adjusted depending on one’s starting fitness level, so that almost everyone can participate in walking as exercise.”
Personally, walking has rocked my world.
Ever since I set myself a number of steps to aim for (it started at 10K a day, but I fell in love with it so much that I increased the goal to 15K a day), I’ve not only been feeling more fit and productive but I’ve also been steadily losing weight, which is something that I struggled to achieve for years on end.
It may sound strange, but if you walk enough steps and remain aware of your calorie input, losing weight becomes quite easy (if that’s something you want).
And you don’t have to go outside if the weather’s dreary, either. For example, I often walk on a treadmill at home or at the gym while reading a book on my Kindle.
Two birds with one stone!
2) They have a healthy relationship with food
Look, I’m no saint. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I never eat fast food, chocolate, or cake.
I do. And I see nothing wrong with it – as long as it’s in moderation.
As someone who used to struggle with emotional overeating, I know just how difficult it is to develop a healthy relationship with food.
What’s more, everyone’s very unique when it comes to what’s good for them and what triggers them to spiral.
For example, I quite enjoy using a calorie calculator to remain aware of how much I eat, but I also don’t stick to it religiously and let myself enjoy life, which is why I can use it in quite a healthy and balanced way.
A friend of mine knows from experience that calorie calculators don’t work for her because she gets too restrictive and her eating habits become very toxic and unhealthy, so she just tries to cook nutritious meals for herself and not think about it too much.
It all depends on your individual circumstances.
My main point here isn’t that you need to eat healthy every single day to maintain your vitality. It’s that the ideal way to enjoy your food and thrive at the same time is to find the right balance.
It’s to do what works for you in the long term.
3) They nurture their close relationships
“Psychological research suggests that stable, healthy friendships are crucial for our well-being and longevity,” writes Zara Abrams for the American Psychological Association.
“A review of 38 studies found that adult friendships, especially high-quality ones that provide social support and companionship, significantly predict well-being and can protect against mental health issues such as depression and anxiety—and those benefits persist across the life span.”
They continue, “People with no friends or poor-quality friendships are twice as likely to die prematurely, according to Holt-Lunstad’s meta-analysis of more than 308,000 people—a risk factor even greater than the effects of smoking 20 cigarettes per day.”
Not only that but one of the longest studies on happiness has shown that it is not money or career that determine our life satisfaction the most. It’s the quality of our relationships with others.
To sum it up, a person who’s surrounded by amazing friends is more likely to be happy, healthy, stable, and live for longer.
Don’t put your friendships on the backburner. Stay in touch. It’s incredibly important that you assign your friendships as much importance as you do your romantic or family relationships.
4) They continue to cultivate curiosity and open-mindedness
Vitality isn’t just about our physical health. Since our physicality is so intrinsically linked to our mental state, it makes sense that people who don’t lose their vitality as they age tend to keep their minds curious, too.
In other words, they’re always excited for a new challenge and try their best to continually step outside their comfort zone.
Far too often, people fall into a certain rhythm and get stuck in echo chambers and comfort bubbles, and the older they get, the more rigid their thinking becomes.
Those who remain full of life, however, are on the complete opposite of the spectrum.
You could say they’re life-long learners, and their daily habits reflect that – they might read lots of books, watch documentaries, chat with people from different backgrounds, help their local communities, pick up hobbies, or take online courses to learn something new.
Don’t just take my word for it, either. According to research, “Curiosity in older people is associated with maintaining the health of the aging central nervous system.”
Curiosity helps longevity, so always try to keep your mind open. Be endlessly curious about the world around you and the people in it and watch yourself flourish as you age.
5) They try to keep their brains sharp and active
Curiosity is one thing; logic, memory, and quick thinking are another.
Did you know that puzzles and games such as Sudoku can help keep your brain younger? Based on a 2019 study, the quality of cognitive function is higher in adults who frequently solve puzzles.
The researchers say that “these findings further contribute to the growing evidence that engaging in mentally stimulating activities could benefit the brain function of the ageing population.”
If you want to maintain your vitality not only in the realm of physical health but also cognitive health, make sure to incorporate some mentally challenging activities into your day, from Sudoku to crosswords, chess, or maths equations.
6) They invest a lot of time into their life’s purpose
In his book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, Héctor García writes that one of the key ways to preserve vitality is to engage in our life’s purpose – what the Japanese refer to as Ikigai – as often as we can.
Everyone has a different purpose in life, and it may take some time to find it. Once you do, don’t let it go. Pursue it with relentless drive. It’s the one thing that will make you feel like life is worth it and like you have meaning.
And how can you recognize what your Ikigai is?
It all comes down to a mixture of four factors:
- What you love
- What you are good at
- What the world needs
- What you can be paid for
There is another way to find your Ikigai as well: flow.
Which activity makes you feel so deeply engrossed in what you’re doing that you completely forget time? Which activity leaves you on such a natural high that you wish you could do it every day? What puts you in such an intrinsic state of flow that you’re wholly fulfilled?
For me, it’s writing. For you, it could be anything from skiing or looking after animals to being a lawyer or helping the homeless.
Find your Ikigai and invest in it. Thus the number one key to vitality and longevity.
7) They have a growth mindset
Finally, people who don’t lose their vitality as they age never think that it’s “too late” or that “they’re too old for this.”
On the contrary, they understand that everyone’s on their own timeline and that if they want to get a degree at fifty, they very well can.
If they want to pick up a new hobby at sixty, why not?
If they go through divorce and start dating again at sixty-five, so what?
They may be getting older, but they remain as excited and optimistic about life as they were back in their twenties.
And that’s what ultimately makes them so full of zeal: the fact that they unapologetically and ferociously love life.
