Eat A Plant-Rich Diet
Staying young and healthy is easier when you eat a healthy diet of mostly fruits and vegetables supplemented with lean protein and whole grains. These foods provide key nutrients that support healthy aging inside and out. Fruits & veggies also boost your intake of important phytonutrients that help defend against damaging free-radicals.
Drink Plenty of Water
Want to know how to look younger naturally? Drink 6-8 glasses of filtered water each day to keep skin supple and support optimum health.
Dehydration causes the skin to become dry and wrinkled. Proper hydration ensures tissues and skin cells are replenished, allowing for younger, healthier-looking skin.
Boost Your Physical Activity
Make sure you’re active daily – recent research shows that vigorous exercise, particularly high-intensity interval training, can slow aging by almost a decade at a cellular level! Exercise also increases blood flow, moving oxygen and nutrients to work cells in the body – skin included – promoting a more youthful look.
Exercise is also linked to maintaining muscle mass and strength, maintaining more brain volume in areas that affect motor control and coordination, fewer menopause-related hot flashes, improved memory and brain function with age, and adding nearly 5 years to your lifespan!
Stay Out of the Sun to Stay Young
Always, always, always wear sunscreen with at least a 30 SPF rating, and make sure it’s broad-spectrum (blocks both UVA and UVB rays). Doesn’t matter if the day is cloudy or bright – the UV rays are always there. And remember to reapply every few hours so it continues to protect your skin.
Damage from the sun’s UVA and UVB ultraviolet light is linked to about 90% of the visible signs of aging. UV rays break down elastin, the tissue that gives skin its elasticity, resulting in a dull, saggy appearance, and they also cause uneven skin tone, wrinkles, and age spots. The damage may not show for years, so early prevention is critical.
Avoid Tobacco Products
Smoking is one of the worst things you can do to your body and skin. Ditching tobacco is essential if you want to stay young looking.
Cigars and cigarettes reduce vitamin C in the body, leading to collagen breakdown and wrinkle formation. Smoking also dehydrates skin, giving smokers dry, dull complexions. And the repeated physical act of smoking leads to significantly more wrinkles around the mouth.
Limit Alcohol & Caffeine
Alcohol (in moderation) can have some health benefits, but too much alcohol and caffeine have a negative impact on both your health and appearance.
Alcohol and caffeine dehydrate and deplete your body of vital nutrients. Alcohol causes blood vessels in the face to dilate, and drinking too much has the potential to make these effects permanent, resulting in an unpleasant flushed appearance and red, spidery veins – never good if you want to look younger.
Adopt a Good Skin Care Regimen
Start your daily skin care routine with a gently exfoliating cleanser. Apply a moisturizer to hydrate the skin, allowing it to stay firm and elastic and reducing the appearance of wrinkles. Ingredients like green tea extract, vitamins A, C & E, and hyaluronic acid help protect against free-radicals, increase collagen, and retain moisture.
Get Plenty of Protein
Your body needs a ready supply of protein available to build new collagen and elastin. You don’t need to eat like a bodybuilder. Just aim to eat a small amount of high-quality protein at every meal, like nonfat plain Greek yogurt at breakfast, beans or peas at lunch, a whey protein shake for a mid-day boost, and lean poultry or fish at dinner.
Take It Easy
Staying young means stressing less. Set aside a small chunk of time every day, about 10-20 minutes, to relax, meditate, or just breathe deeply, while letting worries melt away and helping yourself look younger naturally.
A long list of studies have found that stress, including conditions such as untreated depression, social isolation, and anxiety can speed up cellular aging; stress shortens essential DNA components called telomeres which are linked to overall health, lifespan, and individual aging rate, and when they become too short, cells can no longer reproduce, causing tissues to degenerate and die.
Cut Calories
Eating fewer calories has been linked to a longer lifespan. And other studies have shown that exercising and restricting calories lowers production of a thyroid hormone called T3, slowing metabolism and helping slow the aging process.
The Japanese have the world’s oldest population as well as the greatest proportion of centenarians (people aged 100 and over), and much of their philosophy of how to feel younger and live longer centers around diet and avoiding overeating.