STEPS TO SLOW THE AGEING PROCESS
Changing the way you live now can alter your future for a longer, healthier and happier life, and it’s never too late to start, as Tessa Hilton discovers
It’s never too late to make changes that could see a future healthier you
Lived a less than perfect life health wise? Take heart. There is increasing amounts of evidence to show it is possible to slow the ageing process and undo some harm that may have already taken place. ‘Healthy ageing is within our grasp and not down to a genetic lottery,’ insists Dr Rajendra Sharma, author of inspiring new book Live Longer, Live Younger (Watkins). ‘There is no time when it is too late to make changes and, in many instances where disease has set in, we can reverse damage.
‘Ageing well is not about the perfect lifestyle: it is about achieving optimum health for as long as possible within our normal life patterns. Simple changes can enable us to enjoy, in moderation, our bad habits, such as a glass of wine.’
Addressing the adage ‘we are as old as our oldest part’, Dr Sharma points out that our bodies don’t age uniformly. ‘Pinpointing problem areas will guide lifestyle choices and show where to invest extra care and attention,’ he says.
Many of us know only too well what our ‘wonky bits’ are, but our family history provides clues, too. Perhaps the greatest fear we have today, though, is not for our bodies, but our minds, especially for anyone who’s lost a loved one to dementia.
‘It is not so much that we have genes that guarantee us eventual brain dysfunction, but rather that some genes are more likely than others to encourage processes in the body that lead to nerve damage,’ says Dr Sharma. ‘These genes are turned on or off by good or bad environmental triggers. In other words, while we may all carry genes that could trigger dementia, lifestyle choices can increase or decrease the likelihood of them switching on.’
What your brain loves
Exercise of any description, even walking or gardening, benefits every aspect of our health, but the nervous system is perhaps best served by it, says Dr Sharma: ‘Aerobic exercise in particular, when you get breathless and sweaty, protects against dementia.’
Certainly, the stats tell a convincing story. Taking regular exercise in mid-life can reduce the risk of dementia by nearly a third (30%) and the risk of Alzheimer’s (a specific type of dementia) by nearly half (45%), according to the Alzheimer’s Society, which cites the combined results of 11 studies.
This holds true in later life, too. The brains of older people who exercised aerobically for a year as part of a trial actually showed a small increase in the size of the key area involved with memory, the hippocampus. This is the equivalent of reversing one to two years of age-related shrinkage, says the Alzheimer’s Society.
Muscle tone is important, too, and feeling physically strong does good things for the mind as well as the body, boosting confidence and feelings of being young for our age, says Dr Sharma. Don’t worry if you feel weak at the thought of getting started, our guide to embracing winter exercise on page 80 also includes the best motivational apps.
Check your body clock
Eyebrows might be raised if a drug company claimed they had a treatment to enhance memory, protect from dementia, stroke and diabetes, lower risk of heart attacks, help keep you slim and make you feel happier, less depressed or anxious, says neuroscientist Professor Matthew Walker, director of the Sleep Laboratory at Berkeley University and author of
Why We Sleep (Penguin). Yet sleep does all these things and more, he adds.
If sleep is a problem, check first that you are practising the basics of good sleep hygiene. This begins long before bedtime and consists of taking some exercise (not too late in the day), spending as much time as possible outdoors to get natural daylight (a minimum of 30 minutes), avoiding
It is never too late to make changes to the way we live
caffeine, late meals and alcohol in the evening, following a wind-down routine and having a dark, cool, gadget-free bedroom with a comfortable bed.
Added to all this, the single most important habit for a good night’s sleep is going to bed and getting up at the same time each day, says Professor Walker. This sets the body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm, which is key to our health in so many areas. If you go short of sleep one night, resist the temptation to sleep longer the following day, as this messes with that clock.
Daylight, even on a gloomy winter day, stimulates the pineal gland via the optic nerve to produce the hormone melatonin, which is released at the end of the day in response to darkness and tells the body to sleep.
‘Glass blocks certain wavelengths of light that are important to the pineal gland so, if you wear glasses, take them off if possible when outside,’ advises Dr Sharma. ‘I wear my distance glasses halfway down my nose and look over them.’
The pineal gland gets less efficient at producing melatonin in later years, and it can sometimes be prescribed for those aged over 55 with sleep problems. Interestingly, in some parts of the world, it’s available over the counter. ‘I take it when I need it,’ says Dr Sharma. ‘My current clock is seven hours. If I lose a night’s sleep or have a bad night, I’m more likely to use it the following night. For me, it resets my clock and gets me back into a sleep pattern.’
Daylight is not the only signal our brains can use to set our biological clocks. Core body temperature drops approaching a typical bedtime, reaching its lowest point after two hours of sleep, explains Professor Walker. If our pattern of eating, exercising and even socialising is very regular, our bodies can also use these as cues.
Difficulty falling asleep or waking in the night and being unable to get back to sleep are most often due to worries or anxiety, says Professor Walker, though other triggers can be hot flushes from the menopause, snoring partners, trips to the loo and pain from chronic conditions, such as arthritis. All of these may require different tactics but are definitely worth addressing, as sleep deprivation does far more harm than simply make us tired.
In many cases where sleep is an ongoing issue, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective. Your GP can refer you for this or you could try Sleep Station, which offers an online version available on the NHS in England (sleepstation.org.uk).
Wake up well
We pay great attention to falling asleep, but how we wake is also important for our health and wellbeing. Drink a glass of water, preferably with lemon, which has a cleansing effect on the body, then do some stretching, advises Dr Sharma.
‘Stretching, yoga or tai chi will increase blood flow and waste draining through
the lymphatic system, as well as stimulating circulation and waking up muscles,’ says Dr Sharma, who personally practises the Five Tibetan Rites, a series of ancient yoga-esque moves sometimes called the Fountain of Youth.
Simple breathing exercises also increase the supply of oxygen to the brain and promote a state of calmness by stimulating the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system.
If waking naturally is a rare luxury, then it’s worth considering investing in a natural light alarm clock, which utilises the body’s response to daylight (try lumie.com). If the long nights and dark days are getting you down or you think you may be suffering from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), you might also consider a light box or lamp.
Light therapy isn’t available on the NHS as there is currently insufficient evidence to show it works, though some people find it helpful according to Mind, the mental health charity. ‘I have a light box and find it useful during the darkest part of the year,’ says Dr Sharma. ‘If I’m feeling a little bit blue, I use it for a few days, then I start to pick up. It works for me, but it’s a question of trialling it to see if it works for you.’
What’s new in your life?
Thanks to Covid restrictions, days can tend to blur together and feel increasingly samey, but seeking out new experiences of all kinds doesn’t just improve our mood – it feeds and stimulates our brain cells. A different walk, visits to a new area, music you’ve never heard, visual experiences and even re-arranging or redecorating a room all count.
‘Any new experience has an anti-ageing effect on the brain, which helps us stay sharp,’ says Dr Sharma. ‘We know learning a musical instrument or a language will benefit our cognitive abilities, but a musician who continues to play the piano will not get as much benefit as someone who learns for the first time. The key is to try something different and new.’
This doesn’t mean we have to abandon what we love. If you enjoy a hobby, you are beating off the stress response, which has a positive effect, but look for opportunities to add to your life, too, says Dr Sharma.
‘I recently joined my wife on the allotment because I didn’t feel I was doing enough physical activity, so I asked if I could do some digging,’ he says. ‘My back was not happy when I started, but addressing that led me to improve my fitness, plus learning about plants stretched my brain, too.’
Feed your friendships
Increased isolation and loneliness as a result of our more restricted lives is a concern to practically all of us, whether personally or on behalf of loved ones. While connecting with friends and family boosts brain health and wellbeing, the reverse can increase health risks, according to a wealth of evidence.
‘Working at and investing in friendships could be one of the loveliest and most important ways of improving your health,’ says GP Louise Wiseman, author of a new book Your Best Life: A Doctor’s Secret Guide To Radiant Health Over 40 (Matador).
Of course, the online meet-ups we’re growing used to are helpful, but meeting outside in a natural environment is a much bigger win. Connecting with nature and friends lifts mood and lowers stress, while daylight sets our circadian rhythm and, on brighter days, delivers a dose of vitamin D.
Remember, too, that even brief social exchanges help counter loneliness, advises the Campaign to End Loneliness (campaigntoendloneliness.org). Remarking on the weather to a solitary walker, chatting to a stranger in a (socially distanced) queue, or making a front garden visit to people living alone or shielding is more than ‘doing good’, it’s actually a helping hand for people’s wellbeing in these tricky times.