To lead a really healthy lifestyle, it is important to relate our chronological age with our biological age. The biological age reflects the internal functioning of our organism and tells us about the aging of our cells, tissues and organs, while chronological age is the one that marks our date of birth.
Depending on your genetics and the lifestyle you lead (diet, exercise, sleep, attitude, stress level, etc.) your biological age will be higher or lower. People with a lower biological age than their chronological age have a lower risk of mortality and age-related diseases. The good news is that biological age can be changed. All we need to do is make small changes in our lives — yes, we know it's not easy, but it's worth doing. To calculate our biological age, some factors are considered:
- Body fat percentage.
- Body mass index.
- Blood pressure.
- Skin elasticity.
- Vision.
To improve some indicators that affect our biological age, we should take into consideration the following aspects:
Trying to include in your lifestyle the Mediterranean Diet composed of vegetables, vegetables, fruits, nuts, olive oil, lean meats and dairy, is one of the best steps we can do to improve our biological age. In addition to being one of the most delicious diets, its consumers are 30% less likely to develop vascular problems.
At the same time, the Mediterranean diet reduces oxidative stress (aging) and inflammation thanks to its high content of antioxidants such as omega-3, which has a direct positive impact on our brains.
Researches support the beneficial effects of moderate exercise (45 minutes, three times a week) in slowing down the oxidation process in the body. In addition to this, studies point to aerobic exercise as the best option for anti-aging.
Acute stress that we suffer temporarily, chronic stress and psychological disorders produced by dysregulation of emotional responses, especially depression, have a negative effect on the longevity of our cells.
Do you sleep less than seven hours? Yes, don't you? Well, WARNING. Several studies correlate lack of quality sleep with accelerated aging and organ damage, especially in children. It is important to create routines that make it easier to get quality sleep, such as acclimatize the room to a pleasant temperature, and eliminate any incidence of light such as cell phones and tablets.
About of taking care of our physical appearance.
Nor can we leave aside the physical self-care, because being well with our body is part of ourselves and our happiness; they are intrinsically linked. This doesn’t mean that we have to accept the stereotyped canons of beauty, pretending to be or have the same features that the social networks encourage us to have. But we must keep in mind that each person is unique and unrepeatable, and we must always project our best version and offer the best of us without altering our essence, because the true personality is the main differentiation as human beings.
Taking Care of our Physical Appearance is not Something Vain.
By loving and respecting our body we are honoring the vehicle with which we are going to spend our entire existence, therefore we must give its deserved importance to the food which we nourish it, and take care of it. It needs permanent attention, both in terms of its appearance, and in keeping it in the best conditions with appropriate exercises.
So starting today, ask yourself the following two questions: How many candles did you blow out on your last birthday? And how many candles should you really have blown out? Answer them taking into consideration your chronological age and your biological age according to the lifestyle you have led. But be 100% yourself!
Eat healthy, keep a positive attitude, do exercise, sleep well, and remember: we cannot please everyone. We have to be smart enough not to be swayed by the opinions of others regarding our physique.