Balance yourself and beat stress to feel young
Do the sports that young people do like skating, cycling, surfing, playing hopscotch and skateboarding because they emphasize balance. As we age, our ability to balance diminishes. Many older people suffer from vertigo. And falling is one of the chief causes of injury and death in the elderly.
Research shows you can exercise your balance and develop it just like a muscle. Dancing, martial arts, even standing on one foot will help.
Beat stress
Stress kills. Most visits to the doctor are to treat stress-related conditions.
Stress is the fight-or-flight reaction we evolved to survive in the wild. Confronted by a wild animal, our ancestors’ adrenal glands would pump out adrenaline to get them ready for whatever comes next – sending blood to the muscles so they could throw a spear or run for cover.
Our bodies still react the old way in a modern world, making stress difficult to handle. There are deadlines and traffic jams. Fears of terrorist attacks and threats of war fill our newspapers.
The adrenal glands just keep pumping even though we can’t fight our boss when things go wrong at work or run home every time we get stuck in traffic. So the chemicals just swirl in our bloodstream damaging our bodies over the long term.
Depending on how you react to it, stress can be a friend or a foe. If you harness the energy in stress, you can function at a higher level and accomplish more, say experts.
Stress can be a driving force to help people reach their goals. If you had no stress at all in your life, you’d never achieve anything worthwhile.
The trick is to find the point where there is enough stress to avoid complacency, but not so much that your burn out.
Make a conscious effort to schedule time in your day to enjoy something that has a calming effect on you – a leisurely walk, a cup of tea while watching the sunset, a good book in your favorite cozy hideaway or a relaxing hobby such as needlepoint, knitting, oil painting or woodworking.
Don’t forget music. Sitting quietly and listening to your favorite tunes is very soothing.