How to Age Well and Keep Physical Vitality Going
How Time and Aging Changes Your Vitality
Physical vitality is having energy, strength, and stamina to do everyday tasks and even athletic activities. It is being able to do things with vigor. The more we age, the more critical it is to maintain physical vitality.
Aging is a natural process among all living beings. During the younger years, you fall on your knees and get better the following day. Years later, you pick your keys off the floor, and your hips crack. Some signs of aging are pretty visual, and most occur within the minute units of the body. It is a slow process, and to be able to maintain the body’s strength and energy, we have to understand what else happens in the body as we age:
Heart Health
The most common change in the cardiovascular system occurs when the blood vessels and arteries stiffen, causing pressure in the heart to pump blood harder through these channels. Consequently, the average man’s heart rate declines one beat per minute after age 25-30. In addition to the decline in the heart’s capacity to pump 5%-10% blood per decade. The result- fatigue and breathlessness.
Bone Density and Muscles
Aging causes bones to shrink in size and density, making them fragile and prone to fracture. It also causes a loss in muscle mass. After age 30, a 3%-5% decline in muscle mass starts per decade, and most men tend to lose their muscle mass at age 40. Muscles turn into fat that may contribute to weight gain. With the decline in bone density, muscle loss affects coordination, flexibility, and endurance.
Brain Physiology and Cognitive Functions
Just like bone density, the brain shrinks in volume, particularly in the frontal lobe and the hippocampus. Brain shrinkage is associated with diminished memory, ability to absorb or retrieve information, and attention.
Sexual Performance
Sexual performance and need may change with aging. This may be caused by illness, medications, psychological factors such as relationship problems. In most cases, this is caused by testosterone deficiency, which is associated with low sex drive and erectile dysfunction.
Further changes also occur in the skin, teeth, digestive and urinary system, eyes, and ears.
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5 Ways to Maintain Your Physical Vitality
The clock keeps ticking, and everyone undergoes change, but you can still enjoy a long, active, and happy life to the end with these hacks:
Keep Your Mind Stimulated
Learn a new skill or hobby, read more, or teach a subject. One study provides evidence that challenging mental activities improve memory function. By engaging yourself in new activities, your brain gets stimulated and wires new pathways that help you do this unfamiliar thing better and faster.
Keep Moving
An active lifestyle is good for the brain and the body. Exercising regularly is a way to improve cognitive functions such as memory recall, problem-solving, concentration, and attention to detail. It is also a known way to improve moods and aid with depression. Also, working out, specifically muscle training, may slow down muscle loss caused by aging.
Enrich Your Social Circle
Adults, in general, naturally lose touch with social relationships at some point. Scientific evidence shows that positive involvement in social relationships provides significant health benefits. People with fewest social ties tend to have twice the risk of death than adults with most social ties.
Seek Medical Help
Diseases and Illnesses generally start to appear as we age, and it is vital to address them as in their early stages. Common health problems in men include heart diseases, depression, liver diseases, and prostate cancer.
Decreasing testosterone levels is one of the health concerns that affect both older and younger males. Low testosterone is associated with fatigue, low sex drive, reduced muscle mass, irritability, erectile dysfunction, and depression. Men with these symptoms may benefit from Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT).
Manage Your Stress Level
We all experience stress in everyday life. However, chronic stress is a different story. Prolonged exposure to stress can cause depression, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, and decision-making. Managing your stress in ways such as meditation, caffeine reduction, and yoga may help reduce stress and preserve cognitive clarity.
Biological and environmental factors influence physical vitality. Aging is a natural affair, but it does not mean it could stop you from living and experiencing more in life. Keeping an active and healthy lifestyle could help maintain your vigor and protect your best asset—you.
Do you need medical help to increase your physical vitality? We can help you live more and do more. Opt Health offers personalized support from top-tier health experts. Contact us today.
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